v^a^-.v;;^.,:.
^* ..% *. j'ti-
Digitized by the Internet Arcinive
in 2007 witin funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.arcliive.org/details/cecilrhodesmanhiOOIesuricli
CECIL RHODES
• •• ^ 1
^-1^.. S/. .Wu^^^.
CECIL RHODES
iHE MAN AND HIS WORK
OP HIS PRIVATB AND OONFTOKNTIAL 8BCRIST ABIES
GORDON LE SUEUR, F.R.G.S.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
•Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, his private
arbours and new-planted orchards, on this side '
he hath left them you, and to your heirs for
common pleasures, to walk o broad, and recreate
selves. Here was a Ceosar 1 when comes such ara-
JtUvus Cfcdsar, Act xii., S. . ..
LONDON
^OHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1913
CECIL RHODES
THE MAN AND HIS WORK
BY ONE OF HIS PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL SECRETARIES
GORDON LE SUEUR, F.R.G.S.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
"Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, his private
arbours and new-planted orchards, on this side Tiber ;
he hath left them you, and to your heirs for ever ;
common pleasures, to walk abroad, and recreate your-
selves. Here was a Ceesar ! when comes such another? "
Julius Ceesar, Act m.. So. ii.
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1913
J7r77^
^ All Rights Reserved
•*: .* : :
• • • •" •
TO
MY MOTHER
I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE
THIS BOOK
PREFACE
In undertaking this work I am complying with
the wishes of a great number of friends, more
especially Rhodesians, who knew " the Old Man."
I have no intention of attempting a complete
Life or Biography of Cecil Rhodes, but am simply
endeavouring to convey an impression of the man
and his work formed from what I knew of him
and from the anecdotes I retail.
I have had the assistance of a very few notes
and of one or two stray documents and articles, to
the unknown writers of which 1 tender acknow-
ledgment, but nearly the whole is written from
memory.
Some years ago I designed a more pretentious
Life, for the purpose of which I had collected
a large amount of material ; but the Rhodes
Trustees had no faith in my discretion, and I
abandoned the work in deference to their wishes,
and they purchased my notes and materials.
Sir Lewis Michell later got his colleagues to
vii
viii PREFACE
allow him to collect further materials for the use
of an official biography.
He enlarged this licence, and actually published
a Life in two volumes ; but no more than any
other was this an authorized Life.
In addition to Sir Lewis Michell's work, Sir
T. E. Fuller published a monograph and Mr.
Philip Jourdan '' Memoirs of Rhodes's Private
Life " ; but I do not think that a combination of
all three constitutes a real biography, nor will it
be easy for any one man to write a complete
Life from his own knowledge — those having the
capacity not having the intimate knowledge of
Rhodes's private life necessary, and those who
possess the knowledge lacking the capacity or
inclination.
My old friend and colleague, Charles Boyd,
C.M.G., Rhodes's political Secretary and later
Secretary to the Rhodes Trustees, could write
one. His article on Rhodes in the Dictionary of
National Biography portrays the real Rhodes ;
but the Trustees appear to think " the Old Man's "
time too recent for the completed story.
Rhodes was such a many-sided personality that
men associated with him in politics often knew
little of his inmost thoughts on social matters,
even though, as Sir Thomas Fuller says, they were
" privileged to be on terms of great intimacy with
Mr. Rhodes."
PREFACE ix
Others, again, who were associated with him
closely in various things, and who did not ask him
his reasons for his actions in affairs foreign to
their particular business and to whom he did not
volunteer information, gathered but a one-sided
idea of his views.
My object is to record anything 1 know of
interest to the public, and especially to those who
knew Rhodes, Khodesians more particularly, and
to present Rhodes as a human document.
Many of the anecdotes will be recalled by others,
and people not referred to by name will probably
be identified.
In dealing with Rhodes's work I have necessarily
had to refer to South African history and South
African affairs which I hope will have interest for
the general public, and in writing of his private
life I have had to speak of myself a good deal,
but I trust that any approach to egoism will be
forgiven.
Moreover, I am not without an uneasy feeling
that I have, in some instances, perhaps ventured
into over-deep waters ; but with all its defects I
present my work to my readers and crave their
indulgence.
Gordon le Sueur.
Cape Town,
January 1913.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAOB
I. EARLY HISTORY 1
II. EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY AND
FRIENDS 7
III. THE MAN RHODES .... 20
IV. RHODES AS AN ORGANIZER . . . 55
V. RHODES AND THE CAPE AND POLITICS
GENERALLY 61
VI. RHODES AND THE PUBLIC ... 91
VIL RHODES AND THE NORTH . . .102
VIII. THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 . 141
IX. RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN " AND
MY PERSONAL RELATIONS . . 190
X. RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL . . 217
XL GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES's HOME . 243
xii CONTENTS
OHAFTER fAG^
XII. RHODES AND THE DUTCH OF SOUTH
AFRICA 266
XIII. RHODES'S DAILY LIFE .... 280
XIV. RHODES's LAST DAYS AND THE PRIN-
CESS RADZIWILL .... 300
XV. THE WILL AND SCHOLARSHIPS . . 321
XVI. THE FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AND BURIAL 326
INDEX . 335
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE C. J. RHODES, P.C., M.A., D.C.L.
Frontispiece
RHODES S BEDROOM AT GROOTE SCHUUR
THE AUTHOR ....
FACSIMILE OF DRAFT LETTER
BATHROOM AT GROOTE SCHUUR
FACING PAQB
. 56
. 190
. 240
. 254
SOAPSTONE BIRD FROM ZIMBABYE RUINS. . . . 256
THE HOUSE STEWARD, STEWARD (c. WEBb), AND GAME-
KEEPER (wheeler), WITH THE MATABELE SERVANTS
AT GROOTE SCHUUR ....,* 260
DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY's MILL .... 294
THE LONELY GRAVE IN THE MATOPPOS .... 326
CECIL RHODES
CHAPTER I
EARLY HISTORY
Cecil Rhodes was frequently asked his reasons
for first going out to Africa.
V " Why did I come to Africa ? " he once repUed
to a friend. " Well, they will tell you that I came
out on account of my health, or from a love of
adventure — and to some extent that may be true ;
but the real fact is that I could no longer stand
the eternal cold mutton."
He probably intended by this to convey that
he was tired of home, and he liked giving the
impression that he was forced to seek his fortune,
but the literal idea that he or any of his were
doomed to perpetual cold mutton and a stay-at-
home life is of course absurd.
\\ He was the fourth son of the Rector of Bishop's
Stortford, the Rev. F. W. Rhodes.
^ His father was twice married, and by his first
wife had a daughter, Elizabeth, who married a
cousin, another Rhodes ; she and Ernest, the
third son, being the only ones who married.
Of his second marriage there were, in all, eleven
2
^ '. . : • : ;• ' . . r _ EaRi:y history [ch. I
children, nine of whom were sons. Two died in
infancy.
The eldest son by the second marriage was
Herbert ; then Francis {Colonel Frank Rhodes, the
Reformer and a distinguished soldier) ; then Ernest,
known as " Binfield " Rhodes ; then Cecil Jqhn ;
then Elmhirst, also a soldier ; then Arthur Montagu ;
and, lastly, Bernard, another soldier. There were
two sisters, Louisa and Edith. -
The Rev. F. W. Rhodes was, as a matter
of fact, by no means badly off, and the fact that
he was able to put four of his sons into the army
— one, at all events, into a crack cavalry regiment
— disposes of the " cold mutton " theory.
Cecil Rhodes was fond of alluding to the fact
that his grandfather was, as he put it, " a cowkeeper
at Dalston." " 1 believe," he would say, especially
when any one spoke of his own ancestry, " that my
ancestor was a keeper of cows."
Herbert, the eldest son, died in 1879 in Central
Africa ; his death I shall refer to later.
Frank, the second son, entered the army (1st
Royals) and rose to the rank of colonel. He par-
ticularly distinguished himself at Tel-el-Kebir in
1882 when "Ahmed Arabi, the Egyptian," was
smashed by the British Army under Sir Garnet
Wolseley, and he also did good service in Uganda
He w^as one of the Reformers sentenced to death
after the Johannesburg Crisis of 1895-6, and he
afterwards served with Lord Kitchener • in the
Soudan, being present at Atbara and Omdurman.
He was for a short time Administrator of Rhodesia,
and after Cecil's death he inherited Dalham and
I853-H RHODES^S BROTHERS 3
Denham near Newmarket, but after a trip to the
Victoria Falls he contracted blackwater fever
and died at Groote Schuur in 1903. "Frankie"
Rhodes was a charming personality and very
popular in London society, in which he held an
almost unique place. A tablet was erected to his
memory at his old school, Eton, and his is not the
most insignificant name on the glorious roll of
honour of the school.
Ernest (*' Binfield "), the third son, went out to
Australia in about 1883, after leaving the army
with the rank of captain. He married, and later
came to Johannesburg as manager of the Con-
solidated Goldfields of South Africa. On his
brother Frank's death he inherited Dalham, but
he, too, died not long afterwards, the property
going to his son.
Elmhirst, the fifth son, joined the Berkshire
Regiment, and specialized in signalling. During
the Boer War of 1899 he was Director of
Signalling, but left the army after the cessation of
hostilities.
The next brother, Arthur Montagu, com-
menced ostrich-farming at Oudtshoorn, but this
undertaking was not a success, and he subsequently
settled at Bulawayo. He had several farms on the
Bembezi close to Bulawayo, of which he was in
possession during the Matabele Rebellion, and on
peace being established he put in a claim for
mealies which had been destroyed. It amounted
to a goodly sum, and doubt was expressed as to the
existence of the mealies. Arthur explained that
he lad supplied the natives with seed grain to grow
4 EARLY HISTORY [ch. i
on half shares. Cecil Rhodes had most of these
claims submitted to him, and across his brother's
he wrote : '' This is the most impudent claim that
has yet been submitted."
The youngest brother, Bernard, also became a
soldier, but resigned not long before the Boer War
of 1899. He rejoined, however, on the outbreak of
hostihties. Cecil was very fond of him, but ob-
jected to his leading what he called a useless life.
A visitor to Groote Schuur, on first meeting
Cecil Rhodes, told him that he knew his brother
Bernard. " Ah, yes," said Rhodes, *' Bernard is a
charming fellow ; he rides, shoots, and fishes ; in
fact, he is a loafer."
^^ The Rev. F. W. Rhodes died on February 25,
1878, and hes buried at Fairlight.
Of the two sisters, Louisa lived quietly at Iver,
near Uxbridge, and Edith, who died in 1904, had
a house in Albion Street. Both paid lengthy visits
to South Africa. Edith was extremely like her
brother Cecil — perhaps more like him than any of
his brothers — and had a large share of his determined
spirit. Careless in attire, generous to a fault, and
sympathetic to a supreme degree, she bore many
of his characteristics. She, like Rhodes, was
inundated with begging letters, and many must
have been the tales of woe poured into her
sympathetic ears. Nor was she more expert than
her brother in selecting suitable objects for com-
passion. Two young men she passed on to me ,^^
'* most deserving cases," whom she said she woi|tn.
vouch for. One of them took a month to embezlia,
£250, and the other only a fortnight to acquire Jid
1853-70] MISS EDITH RHODES 6
unique means £160 to give him a start in business.
Once while she was staying at the Cape she pro-
posed to come and stay at Groote Schuur whilst her
brother was there, but he told me to write and
decline the pleasure, remarking, "I'm very fond of
my sister, and it would be very pleasant to have
her here, but I am afraid the house is not big
enough for the two of us ! " She displayed
splendid disregard for conventionalities, and freely
asserted her right to independent action. More-
over, she possessed a wonderful store of energy,
and " had she been a man," a friend once said,
" she, too, would have made a new country, or, if
there were no more new countries, she would have
built an island out in the ocean ! " She was
immensely pleased when this remark was repeated
to her.
The estates at Dalston which had belonged to
the Rhodes family were bought in by Cecil. Part
he presented to the public for a public square, and
the remainder was mortgaged for some £70,000
shortly before his death, the money being required
for the purchase of Dalham Hall and Denham,
near Newmarket, the property of Sir Robert
Affleck. At Dalham Rhodes only spent a week-
end when he decided to purchase it. He hoped
that the bracing air of Newmarket would give him
a few more years of life which would have been
denied to him in the heat of South Africa, and
^before his death he strongly craved to get the fresh
to"eezes of Newmarket, the while he panted his
exi.eath away in the stifling heat of a Cape summer,
he [The revenue from the Dalston estates he be-
6 EARLY HISTORY [ch. i
queathed to his family — that is, to his surviving
brothers and sisters, with the exception of Frank,
to whom he left Dalham and Denham with entail
to his heirs and successors, together with a sum to
enable him to keep up the estate. The estate, on
Frank's death, went to the next brother, Ernest,
who, in turn dying, passed it on to his son.
Cecil hoped that Frank would marry and have an
heir, but he remained a bachelor. There was a
tradition in the Affleck family that whoever came
into possession of Dalham would die within the
year, and this, strangely enough, was true of Cecil
Rhodes and his brothers Frank and Ernest.
Cecil Rhodes was born on July 5, 1853, at
Bishop's Stortford, and his early youth does not
seem to have been distinguished by anything
remarkable, nor does he appear to have given early
promise of particular ability or of future briUiance.
He was healthy enough, though not particularly
athletic. He preferred to spend long hours quietly
by himself or in the company of his eldest brother,
Herbert, to whom he was devoted.
After a more or less uneventful school career he
proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford. He was un-
decided as to his future vocation ; and although he
was at this time intended for the Church, he also
attended a few terms at the Inner Temple. He
continued his reading at Oxford until 1870, when
he developed a slight lung affection, and on account
of which he was ordered a long sea voyage. He
thereupon went out to Natal to join his favourite
brother, Herbert, who was coffee-planting there.
CHAPTER II
EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY AND FRIENDS
In 1870, the year that Cecil Rhodes came out to
Natal, the first diamond rush occurred to Kim-
berley, and Herbert Rhodes, inspired by the
reports of the great diamond finds and tired of
farming, made his way to "the fields," and from
there he wrote to his brother to join him : Cecil
did so in 1872. The brothers worked a claim
together at Colesberg Kop until 1874, but Her-
bert's roving spirit took him towards the North,
and he left the diamond-fields and made his way
to Central Africa, where he met an awful end in
1879, being burnt to death on the Shird River.
He was pouring out a drink from a demi-john
of gin when a spark from his pipe ignited the
spirit, causing the demi-john to explode and set
his clothing alight. He rushed to the river and
jumped in, but succumbed to his injuries shortly
afterwards. Cecil was much aggrieved at a friend
of his father's holding up Herbert's death as a
warning against drink.
It was undoubtedly from his brother Herbert,
as Rhodes often said himself, that he first became
imbued with his great ideas of acquiring the
8 EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [cH. ii
hinterland of the southern colonies for the
British Empire. Herbert was strongly inspired
by the idea of expansion northwards that after-
wards induced his brother to pass his hand over
the map of Africa and say, *' Africa all Red ; that
is my dream."
Rhodes felt Herbert's death very keenly, and in
after-years had a tombstone erected to his memory
over his grave in Central Africa.
Cecil Rhodes's experiences as a digger were
much the same as those of the others, but he often
referred to the luck that followed him on the
fields. He used to tell a story of his giving a
picnic on the Vaal River to a number of friends.
The cost of this picnic was £40, and after luncheon
he walked down to the river, where amongst the
pebbles he picked up a diamond which in Kim-
berley he sold for just £40.
He once told me a story of his having, in 1876,
had a contract for pumping a mine dry, and he
was left in charge of the engine. He did not
understand steam, and suddenly he heard the
engine safety-valve hissing, and after one look
he turned and fled for his life, leaving the engine
to its fate.
At Kimberley the first great event of his life
evolved — the amalgamation of the diamond dig-
gings and the formation in 1888 of the De Beers
Consolidated Mines, Ltd., one of the greatest
and wealthiest private corporations the world has
ever known, the powers granted under its articles
of association being practically unlimited.
He went backwards and forwards to Oxford
1870-88] "BARNEY BARNATO" 9
several times from Kimberley. He only matricu-
lated in 1873, but in 1881 took his degrees of B.A.
and M.A. It was in 1877, on one of his journeys
back to Kimberley, that Sir Charles Warren, who
was a fellow-passenger in the post-cart, saw him
studying a small book, and on inquiry found it was
the Book of Common Prayer.
It was at Kimberley that Rhodes became asso-
ciated with the late Barnett Isaacs, who called
himself Barnato Isaacs Barnato, and was familiarly
known as " Barney." The latter, a Jewish digger,
half prize-fighter and half music-hall artiste, had a
peculiar faculty in one direction, and that was
money-making. Gardner Williams said of him in
" South Africa " that '' one could scarcely have cast
him in any society or any place on earth where his
nimble wits would not have won him a living."
As a preliminary tp amalgamation, Rhodes had
formed a small combination of interests in 1880
called the De Beers Diamond Mining Company,
and Gardner Williams records an interesting fact,
that one of the first cheques was one of £5, drawn
by Rhodes as an advance against his salary as
secretary.
Rhodes and Barnato soon came to loggerheads,
for " Barney " was supposed to represent the illicit
diamond-buyers in the community. He was of
course representing various interests, and had
formed the Central Diamond Mining Company,
and had to be considered in the amalgamation,
albeit Rhodes had bought large interests in the
companies Barnato represented. The actual facts
of the negotiations with " Barney " are not of
10 EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [cH. ii
supreme importance, but the following curious
story has been very widely accepted as true :
Rhodes and his people were for a long time unable
to come to terms with ** Barney " and his faction.
The former had for some time been negotiating
with the Rothschilds with the view to the con-
solidation of the mines, which he knew to be vital
to the existence of the diamond trade. He knew
that if individual diggers could sell their diamonds
as they pleased it meant a death-blow to the
diamond industry, and that its salvation lay in
control of the output being obtained, and to this
end Brazilian properties were, later on, acquired by
De Beers and closed down. The peculiar market
for stones necessitated regulation of the supply,
and an amalgamation of the various interests only
could prevent the unrestricted sale of diamonds.
Rhodes required some weeks to complete his
arrangements for the formation of his great trust,
but Barnato had a large stock of diamonds ready
sorted for the market (any one who knows any-
thing of diamonds is aware of the number of classes
into which the stones have to be sorted for sale).
Barnato threatened to place these stones on the
market at once unless his terms were agreed to.
The placing of these stones before Rhodes's
negotiations were complete would have been
ruinous, and had to be prevented at any cost. A
meeting was arranged, and the scene must have
been picturesque with " Barney " sitting with a
complacent smile, master of the situation, Rhodes,
with the impatience he never could conceal, stamp-
ing in abortive rage, and Alfred Beit nervously
1 8/0-88 J A BUCKET OF DIAMONDS 11
twitching with the sway of the pendulum, whilst
in parcels on sheets of white paper on a side-table
lay the carefully sorted stones, unconscious cause
of all the turmoil. In the midst of a discussion
Rhodes rose, and taking Barnato by the arm
walked him up and down the room, and then to
the side-table where the stones lay, and said,
" Barney, have you ever seen a bucket-full of
diamonds ? / never have. I'll tell you what I'll
do. If these diamonds will fill a bucket, I'll take
them all over from you at your price." Then,
hardly giving him time to answer, Rhodes swept
the stones into a bucket standing handy. (How
the bucket came to be there so opportunely history
does not relate.) The stones did not fill it, how-
ever, and Rhodes, with a glance round, strode from
the room. The amalgamation was accomplished,
for he had got the delay that he wanted, and as
Barnato turned to face the astonished gaze of those
seated there he only then realized that he was no
longer a factor in the negotiations, as the re-sorting
of his diamonds for market meant a matter of
weeks.
Whether the story is true or not, after an
all-night sitting terms were arrived at, and the
interests of the Central Diamond Mining Com-
pany were bought in for De Beers for £5,338,650,
a very useful cheque !
Rhodes always displayed the highest affection for
Oxford, where he said he came in contact with the
best of England's youth. Any Oxford man was
sure to find himself in his good graces, and it was a
proud day in his life when, in 1899, his old college
n EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [cH. ii
I conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of
ICivil Law. The honour was at the same time
conferred on Lord Kitchener. At Oxford he first
met Sir Charles Metcalfe, Rochfort Maguire, and
Alfred (now Viscount) Milner, who were associated
with him in his life's work.
Sir Charles Metcalfe was his constant companion,
and Rhodes took particular delight in his company
on the veld. He would retail stories to Rhodes's
great edification, and especially tales of gallantry
and conquests which would amuse Rhodes im-
mensely. After Sir Charles had left him, he would
look round beaming and say, *' Do you know, I
really think Metcalfe honestly believes those stories
are true ! " Sir Charles, whilst being a most ener-
getic man, and for his proportions quite athletic,
had a most lethargic habit. After dinner he would
put a big cigar into the corner of his mouth and
apparently fall into deep slumber — in fact, I have
known him go to sleep between the courses at
dinner. When, however, he was thought to be
fast asleep, something would be mentioned in
which he was interested, and he would immediately
open his eyes and take as active a part in the
conversation as if he had attentively followed it all.
Sir Charles threw himself into Rhodes's work with
zest, and as Consulting Engineer to the Rhodesia
Railways he did much to give effect to Rhodes's
ideas for railway extension.
On one occasion Sir Charles was speaking to me
on the choice of a career. "Well," he said, "it
all depends on the man himself. / wanted to be a
lawyer, but my father said I should become a judge,
1870-88] SIR CHARLES METCALFE 13
and that every judge died of sitting too long on the
bench, so I went in for engineering, but I have no
doubt that had I gone in for the law I should
have risen to the top of that profession just as I
hav^ in the one I have adopted."
Sir Charles rather prided himself on being a
great judge of wine, which reminds me of a visit
paid to Groote Schuur by a couple of men from
Home who were said to have a nice taste in wine.
The conversation turned on Cape wines and the
reputation enjoyed by Cape Constantia of the
middle of the eighteenth century. " Ah," said Sir
Charles, " but they make a very good wine now.
In fact, Rhodes has some in his cellar which you
will find excellent." I then told one of the
servants to decant a bottle of the Constantia, and
presently he returned with it. A glass was poured
out for each of the visitors and one for Sir Charles ;
they tasted the wine and exclaimed on its quality,
declaring it excellent. Sir Charles passed his glass
before his nose two or three times in the approved
taster's fashion to get the bouquet, and then tasted
it. "Aha," said he, "do you note the flavour?
Isn't it quite good stuff? The fruitiness of it —
not the fruitiness of port, mark you, but the true
flavour of the grape ? "
" Really," said one of the visitors, " I had no idea
they made such wine at the Cape."
Just then the servant came round to me and
said in an undertone, " I'm very sorry, sir, but
that was the '54 Port I decanted by mistake." I
said nothing, but told Rhodes quietly afterwards,
and Sir Charles never heard the end of it.
14 EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [cH. ii
Rochfort Maguire was another Oxford friend
who was long associated with Rhodes and his
work. He with C. D. Rudd and F. R. Thompson
("Matabele") went up to Bulawayo in 1888 and
spent a considerable time at the Royal Kraal
bongaing^ to Lo Bengula, and finally secured
the concession upon which the British South
Africa Company was formed.
At Kimberley Rhodes made many friendships
and connections which lasted throughout his life.
Sir Julius Wernher and Alfred Beit — afterwards
the founders of the great financial house of
Wernher, Beit & Co. — were then fellow-clerks.
Julius Wernher came to Kimberley in 1871 and
Alfred Beit in 1875. Beit, a Hamburg Jew,
diminutive in stature, weak in health, and timid
physically to a degree, was yet a master of finance,
and for sheer financial abilities outshone all his
contemporaries. In common with many of his
race he had an intense admiration for qualities
which he felt he himself lacked, and so Rhodes's
strength, disregard of consequences, and fearless-
ness superlatively appealed to him, and Beit be-
came one of the staunchest Imperialists 1 have ever
met, and never hesitated an instant when Rhodes
chanced to lead.
At Kimberley, too, Rhodes became associated
with C. D. Rudd, who was afterwards to become
his partner in the Rudd-Rhodes Syndicate, pro-
moters of the British South Africa Company.
* Bongaing, lit. ''kowtowing." The warriors run up to the royal
footstool and bonga by shouting out the king's praises in the most
exti'avagant terms.
18/0-88] EARLY PHILANTHROPY 15
C. D. Rudd became a partner of Rhodes in 1873
in diamond-mining enterprises, and in 1886 he
accompanied Rhodes to the Witwatersrand, where
now stands Johannesburg. Rudd bought a fine
estate at Newlands, " Fern wood," marching with
Groote Schuur, but on retiring to live in England
he sold the estate to a land syndicate, by whom it
was cut up into lots.
Even in these early Kimberley days Rhodes
practised almost indiscriminate philanthropy.
Bishop Gaul, late Bishop of Mashonaland, who
was Archdeacon in Kimberley, used to relate that,
when a man got ill or a family in straitened
circumstances required a holiday to the coast,
he had only to approach Rhodes, who, on being
satisfied that " the case " was a deserving one,
would ask him how much he required to provide
for their needs, and write out a cheque for an
amount which would provide proper treatment
for the sick person or a sorely needed trip to the
seaside for the distressed family.
Rhodes's alternate on the De Beers Board of
Directors was the late Captain Tyson, known to
all Kimberley as " Tim." A genial nature and a
good friend, he probably had not an enemy in the
world. Resembling Rhodes in features, he was the
cause of much merriment in the way he imitated
him, even copying his hand-play and developing
Rhodes's squeak and the falsetto notes in his
voice.
During the Kimberley siege "Tim" Tyson
rendered yeoman service in the commissariat
department.
16 EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [cH. ii
Rhodes also met Dr. (Sir Starr) Jameson at
Kimberley, where they were close friends. He
was rightly looked upon as the first in his pro-
fession in Africa, and had an enormous practice.
He has a charming personality ; and although he
has not the same wide circle of friends in South
Africa as Rhodes had, there were none who got
to know him intimately but were fascinated by his
peculiar charm of manner.
He has tremendous power of concentration and
singular administrative ability. Brilliant beyond
measure, he was only handicapped by a feeling
acquired after the Raid that he was a failure.
Dr. Jameson was afflicted with shyness, but, as he
himself said, no nervousness, and he is unexcelled
in physical courage.
He was bored to extinction by politics, and on
his entering the arena in 1898 it was only a strong
sense of duty and loyalty towards Rhodes that
induced him to stay in Africa at all, more
especially as the Progressive Party, headed by
Sir Thomas Fuller, objected to his candidature in
the Progressive interest until he had in sackcloth
and ashes in some way atoned for his crime.
Since Rhodes 's death the same sense of loyalty
towards his late friend kept him interested in
affairs, and the fact that he has thrown himself
heart and soul into work that he personally
detests and brings him into contact with many
people he despises, proves his strength and the
manner of man he is. " Three acres and a cow in
Sussex," he often said, comprised the sum-total of
his ambitions.
1870-88] ILLICIT DIAMONDS IT
The old Kimberley community was a stranger
mixture of humanity. They were all there with /
one object, and that was to make money out of/
diamonds.
Most men who made fortunes did so by
legitimate speculation, but in the community ^
generally to bring off a deal in illicit stones was
rather looked on as smart business than a criminal
act.
There is a story told of three brothers in a
family who had got possession of a large parcel
of illicitly acquired stones, and they tossed up as
to which of them should take the parcel to
England.
The winner started off on horseback for the
Border, and shortly afterwards, on reflection, the
two remaining brothers decided that they had
acted somewhat unwisely and determined that all
should go together.
Hastily saddling up, they rode after and caught
up the brother, and informed him of their decision
that all three should go with the diamonds.
" What diamonds ? " said he, and disclaimed all
knowledge of any diamonds.
Expostulations and threats had no effect upon
him, and it was not until one of his brothers put a
bullet into his leg that an amicable settlement was
arrived at.
De Beers used to have a staff of natives who
did practically nothing but report on new finds.
These " boys " used to live in Kimberley and
received high wages, but as soon as a new diamond
prospect was reported one or two of them would
18 EARLY DAYS IN KIMBERLEY [ch. ii
discard their European clothing and don the
blankets of the raw native and then set off and
apply for work at the new field. After having
been at work for a short while, these boys would
take their discharge or desert, and returning to
Kimberley hand in a full report on the possibilities
and prospects of the claims ; and in this way De
Beers were kept fully informed of the probable
value of every new discovery.
Large numbers of stones were of course stolen
in the compounds, and even here De Beers found
it profitable to employ men to go about amongst
the natives and buy from them stones which they
had secreted.
With the formation of the De Beers Consoli-
dated Mines, Ltd., the first great work of Rhodes's
life was completed, and he had acquired the wealth
necessary to carry out the big ideas for northern
expansion and time to devote to politics. He
with Barnato, Beit, and F. S. Philipson-Stow
were appointed life governors of De Beers, and
they divided the profits, after deductions for divi-
dends. The average amount so divisible was about
£150,000 a year. Philipson-S tow's share was
bought by Rhodes, and this left only three life
governors.
Then, in 1897, Barnato threw himself overboard
from the ship on which he was voyaging home to
England and was drowned.
This occurred towards the end of June, and the
life governors' dividend was to be declared at the
end of the month, and so the whole went to
the survivors, Rhodes and Beit.
1870-88] DEATH OF BARNATO 19
When the news arrived, Rhodes cabled to Beit,
saying that he had heard that Barnato's widow
had not been left very well provided for, the bulk
of the fortune going to Barnato Brothers, and he
asked if Beit were wilhng that the share to which
Barnato would ordinarily be entitled should be
paid to the widow. Beit immediately acquiesced,
and they agreed to forgo Barnato's share. Rhodes
was terribly enraged when he heard afterwards
that instead of going to the widow the amount
was claimed by and paid to Barnato Brothers,
especially as his private account was at the time
largely overdrawn. It was about 11 o'clock at
night in the train near Vryburg on the way to the
North that I received the cable saying that Barnato
had jumped overboard. Rhodes had retired, and
I refrained from waking him up, and waited till the
morning, when I took him the message. He was
furious at my not giving it to him the night be-
fore, and said, " I suppose you thought this would
aiFect me and I should not sleep. Why, do you
imagine that I should be in the least affected if you
were to fall under the wheels of this train now ? "
He tried to give the impression of being without
feeling, but nothing is more absurd. He was
crammed with sentiment to his finger-tips, but
adopted a brutal manner and rough exterior to
cover up the weakness of sentiment, and thus
many a broken-hearted man and woman left him
with the impression — entirely erroneous— that he
was a callous brute lacking in human sympathy.
CHAPTER III
THE MAN RHODES
Cecil Rhodes was a tall and powerful-looking
man, just under six feet in height, but longer in
the back than in the legs. He had piercing light
steel-blue eyes and a wealth of curly locks which
had turned grey in early life.
In after-years he put on fat rapidly, and his face
became florid and puffy, due doubtless to the heart
affection and derangement of blood-vessels from
which he suffered. He weighed in 1897 just over
fifteen stone — about the same weight as Grimmer
and I, Sir Charles Metcalfe being a little heavier.
I remember Rhodes once chaffing Jack Grimmer
about his weight, saying that owing to his and my
indolent habits we weighed as much as he and
Metcalfe did. " Yes," replied Jack, '* but you see,
Le Sueur and I are hard muscle and bone, but you
and Metcalfe are all blubber."
It is not generally known that he was left-
handed, and that the little finger of his right hand
was bent at the middle knuckle, so that he could
not straighten it. He was very sensitive about
that little finger, and it will be seen in all his
photographs that he is careful to keep the right
20
1 897] CARELESS ATTIRE «1
hand covered, and those who have shaken hands
with him will have noticed how he kept the third
and little finger doubled up.
As we were much of a size, Grimmer and 1 could
wear nearly all his clothes, and we found this very
useful on the veld, as he used to give away our
kit to the natives, and we were able to replenish
from his stock, and so went about with " C. J. R."
on our shirts and socks.
He always wore the same style of hat when on
the veld or at Groote Schuur — a soft squash felt,
the crown of which he would bend into a cup
shape — a style favoured by Boer farmers. When
he went out, he wore a peculiarly shaped brown
bowler, and I have never seen him wear any other
shape.
He was careless about his dress, and the ordering
of his clothes was, as a rule, left to his valet, Antony
de la Cruz (" Tony "), who ordered his pepper-and-
salt tweed suits, his hats, and his white flannel
trousers by the dozen.
When in dress clothes, he invariably wore a black
waistcoat, and as a rule displayed two or three
inches of white shirt-front between the bottom of
the waistcoat and top of the trousers.
He nearly always wore ties of similar pattern —
a sailor-bow of blue with white spots — and he
invariably wore buttoned boots. When travelling,
" Tony " used to carry two large kit-bags of clothes,
but " the Old Man " would make a favourite of
one particular coat and wear it day after day.
On our way to Salisbury in 1897 he one day burnt
a large hole in the front of a favourite old coat.
22 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
which was, moreover, splashed in front with grease
— in fact, a good subject for the rag-picker s basket.
Arrived at Salisbury, however, he told me to send
the coat to the tailor and have it cleaned and
mended. I did so, and received it back the next
day with the following note :
"Dear Sir, — Herewith the Right Honourable
C. J. Rhodes's coat uncleaned and unmended.
We regret that all we can do with the garment
is to make a new coat to match the buttons."
On another occasion on the veld a very cold
snap came on one evening, and I felt the need
of a coat, for, as a rule, 1 spent the day in shirt-
sleeves. I did not own a coat at the time, how-
ever, Rhodes having disposed of my kit " in
gratuities." Accordingly I went across to Tony,
and after a search through one of the Old Man's
kit-bags I selected one partly worn, but which I
had not seen him wear. Arrayed in this, I joined
Rhodes at dinner, and he, suddenly stopping with
his soup-spoon raised half-way to his mouth,
said, '* Why, you've got my coat on ! " " Nothing
of the sort," said I. " You have got my coat on,"
he said, rising and coming round to my side of the
little camp-table, " and damn it, it is my best coat
tool Come here ; come and take it off; I'll give
you another one." Leaving his dinner, he marched
off to Tony's wagonette, where he rummaged
through a kit-bag and produced a brand new coat,
which he handed over to me, saying, " There you
are — you can have this ; but I don't want you to
wear my best coat."
Amongst us, his " young men," we always spoke
1 897] "THE OLD MAN" 23
of him as " the Old Man " or " the Chief," and
many of his colleagues dropped into the habit.
Even Captain Penfold, who was many years his
senior, used to talk of him as " the Old Man." I
remember once on my way up to Bulawayo I saw
Penfold at Kimberley, and he said, " Well, how is
the Old Man ? " 1 started teasing him by saying,
" Well, I shouldn't care to be in your shoes ; he's
simply mad about De Beers' cutting off supplies,
and he is coming up next week just to talk to the
directors." Poor Penfold was quite distressed.
" No, hang it, no, I can't stand any more," he said ;
" I'm going to chuck it ; I'll resign and clear out.
I can't stand it any longer," and that was about
the way in which the directors felt about "the
Old Man."
When talking at table, he had a habit of leaning
forward on his elbows, now and again passing his
hand over his face with a lightning rub, and then
he would, in making a reply, sit bolt upright and
throw his head back with a smile, putting his
cigarette down on the table-cloth.
He would often walk up and down in pyjamas,
and then he would rub his hands up and down his
ribs, and at other times when dressed he would
stick his hands down inside his trousers. (He
seldom wore a waistcoat.)
When interested or amused, he would give a
sort of preliminary whine — like a long-drawn-out
M — and on occasion his voice would go off into
a sort of falsetto, especially if he were angry or
excited.
He never cared for jewellery, and never wore
U THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
even a watch. His watches and such articles of
jewellery as he possessed were kept locked away
in a plate closet.
In walking he took a quick short step ; his toes
turned in, and he seemed almost to tread upon his
own feet. His hands he carried either thrust into
his jacket pockets or one hand in his pocket and
the other with closed fingers sharply swinging.
So much has been written about the question of
drink that one must perforce say something about
it, though it is a subject that might well have been
left alone.
Rhodes has been called an habitual drunkard,
and it has been stated time and again by more
moderate detractors that he frequently drank to
excess.
Rhodes was no drunkard. In the old Kimberley
mining days, as in all new and rough communities
of the sort, where most of the possessors of sudden
and easily acquired wealth knew of no loftier use
to which to put it than indulgence in various forms
of vice, hard drinking was much more the rule
than the exception. It would be strange, indeed,
if Rhodes, working as an ordinary miner as he did,
did not " do his whack " with the rest, especially as
his heart trouble would naturally incline him to
stimulants.
He liked his champagne in a tumbler, and at
lunch or at dinner had a habit of tossing off the
glass absent-mindedly. After meals he would
have his favourite Russian kiimmel, of which he
would often have five or six liqueur glasses in the
course of after-dinner conversation.
I
1 897] DRINKING AND SMOKING 25
His system required stimulant, and he was fond
of a mixture of champagne and stout in the fore-
noon, but as a rule he drank only with his meals,
and cert^tinly not to an extent to incapacitate
him.
To those who do not know the conditions under
which we live in Africa the amount consumed by
him might seem large, but he had a horror of the
" nipping " habit, and it is absurd to accuse him of
being a drunkard.
When thirsty, I have known him take a long
draught of pure water, and say, as he wiped away
with his palm the drops which he generally allowed
to trickle down his chin, " By Jove ! if people had
to pay five shillings a bottle for that, I don't believe
they would drink anything else."
As to smoking he only smoked cigarettes which
were imported direct from Cairo for him, and the
resourceful Tony always had a supply on hand in
the same way that he always had his particular
brand of Blantyre coffee (he never drank any
other) and his Russian kiimmel. He never
smoked a pipe nor cigars, and seldom smoked
before luncheon, but after lunch and dinner he
would sit and smoke one cigarette after another,
lighting the next one at the stump of the one he
had finished. He never carried a cigarette-case
about with him. He always spoke much better
at the after luncheon or after dinner-table if he
had a cigarette going, and seemed to feel lost
without one. One night on the veld we had run
out of cigarettes. I got from a wayside store some
very vile so-called " Virginia " cigarettes, probably
26 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
made of hay. He pretended to like them, and
said, " These are very light — quite a pleasant
change from the heavy Egyptian tobacco." On
another occasion in the Matoppos the supply of
cigarettes ran out, and after dinner I made some
out of Boer tobacco and the thinnest paper I could
find ; but though he lighted them again and again
he only regarded them with a pitying eye. He
had one curious habit ; he would never light his
cigarette with a match.
When he wanted a cigarette and I was not
smoking, he would say to me, " Take a cigarette."
I would take one and light it, and then he would
reach over and say, " Now give me a light," and
light his cigarette at mine.
When talking at dinner, he would absent-mindedly
put his lighted cigarette down anywhere, and many
were the damask table-cloths at Groote Schuur
ruined by being burnt through by cigarette ends.
The top of a leathern bridge-box also made a suit-
able depository for burning cigarette ends.
This habit of his might have resulted in serious
and unpleasant consequences once while we were
camped on the veld. He and I were sleeping in
a coach, the wooden seats of which were covered
with leather stuffed with coir. I retired early, and
our only joint covering was a big sheepskin kaross.^
Rhodes came to rest smoking a cigarette and turned
in (we slept in our clothes, only removing boots),
but about 2 a.m. I was awakened by a stinging
burn on the hand. I thought at first that Tony
^ Kaross — rug made of hides of small antelopes^ jackals, etc. The
sheepskin is the cheapest and most serviceable.
1 897] COMPARISON TO CLIVE 27
had spilled the boiling early-morning coffee over
me, but I then found that the kaross was smoulder-
ing, and a large hole burnt through the hide.
Rhodes awoke, and we put the kaross out of the
door. Then I got a lantern and found that the
whole of one section of the seat was aglow. The
coir blazed up as we disturbed it, and to get rid of
it I tore the section of seat off its hinges. The
wooden seat was just about burnt through, and
there were one thousand cordite cartridges packed
underneath and flush up against it I
There was a strange facial resemblance between
Rhodes and some of the Roman Caesars, but his
was rather the physiognomy of a Nero, although
he personally considered himself like the Emperor
Hadrian, and he was once surprised by a friend
standing and stroking his nose before a portrait of
Hadrian. He was not displeased at being spoken
of amongst a certain set in London as " the Em-
peror." Typically Roman were the forehead with
the curly locks, the flashing eye, and the set of the
under-lip.
Sir Lewis Michell in his work compares him to
the Ceesars, Napoleon, and Clive ; and he certainly
possessed many Napoleonic traits, but they were
rather little mannerisms, such as the little tweak of
the ear by which Napoleon used to evince his
pleasure towards his marshals and the brusque and
unconventional things he used to say to women,
than characteristics. He would have scorned to
engineer a propaganda of lies to win public sympathy
as Napoleon did, and his soul would have abhorred
the theatrical pageantry which Napoleon employed.
28 THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
If a comparison is needed of his actual methods,
it lies rather in Bismarck's than Napoleon's. But
were one to try and summarize Rhodes, Elphin-
stone's estimate of Clive's character would be
found strangely applicable. Like Clive he left an
** impression of force and grandeur ; a masculine
understanding ; a fine judgment ; an inflexible will,
little moved by real dangers, and by arguments and
menaces not at all. He exercised a supreme con-
trol over those who shared his counsels or executed
his resolves. Men yielded to a pressure which they
knew could not be turned aside, and either partook
of its impulse or were crushed by its progress."
Like Clive, too, " he meets the most formidable
accusations, with bold avowal and a confident
justification. He makes no attempt to soften his
enemies or conciliate the public, but stands on his
merits and services with a pride which in other
circumstances would have been arrogance." A
mind endowed with the qualities his held rises high
above ordinary imperfections. "At worst it is a
rough-hewn Colossus, where the irregularities of
the surface are lost in the grandeur of the whole." ^
It is possible that the resemblance to Clive presents
itself to one's mind as a natural conclusion from the
fact that the lives and energies of both men were
devoted more or less to a similar end, and that each
found the necessity of employing similar tools and
methods towards the consummation of their ideals.
They were both great Englishmen, both were
animated by intense patriotism and superlative
* Elphinstone's ''Rise of the British Power in the East." Mac-
millan.
1 897] COMPARISON TO CLIVE 29
loyalty, and both did render " great and meritorious
services to their country."
Rhodes's inflexible will carried him through
many a situation where a less determined man
would have been appalled by the difficulties beset-
ting him ; he was as little moved by the real danger
by which he was confronted in his negotiations
with the Matabele rebels or the real danger which
was ever present when he first cast in his lot with
the revolutionary movement in Johannesburg, as
he was by the arguments and menaces of his
opponents in the Cape House of Assembly. He
exercised a control over his colleagues on the
De Beers' Board of Directors, " who shared his
counsels," and over his colleagues in his Ministry to
a ridiculous extent. He would walk in late to a
meeting of De Beers' Directors, and the minutes of
the last meeting having hardly been read, he would
start on the agenda and run through them, giving
his own views something like this : ** Of course,
what we have got to do here is so and so ; I think
we are all agreed about that. Just enter that in
the minutes [to the secretary] as proposed and
carried ; and now about so and so," and the same
with regard to the rest. " That's all for this
morning, I think," he w^ould add, and walk
out, leaving his colleagues thinking over resolu-
tions and amendments they intended to bring
forward.
When De Beers' Directors — backed up by Lord
Rothschild (representing French shareholders) —
protested against the use he was making of De Beers'
funds, they were forced to yield to the pressure he
30 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
applied, and were only too glad to partake of its
impulse to allay the storm their action created.
The formidable accusations hurled against him
in connection with the Raid he certainly met
with bold avowal and confident justification, even
sang-froid, and listened to the evidence against
him with amused interest, munching sandwiches
and drinking stout the while. Nor does he make
any attempt to conciliate the public when he has
to answer for his actions, but arrogantly stands
on his merits and aggravates his judges by saying
that he is coming to face their ** unctuous recti-
tude."
Rhodes was on terms of great intimacy with
General Charles Gordon (" Chinese Gordon"), who
wished him to accompany him to the Soudan.
Rhodes, however, refused, saying that his work
lay in the south. Gordon is said to have told
him the story of his having been offered a room-
ful of silver in China which he had refused, and
to have asked Rhodes what he would have done.
" Why, taken it, to be sure," said Rhodes, " and
as many more as they liked to give me ; for what
is the earthly use of having ideas if you haven't
the money to carry them out ? "
Opprobium was heaped upon Clive because he
acquired wealth in India, but it is certain that
if Clive coveted wealth he, like Rhodes, only
looked upon the possession of wealth as a means
of gratifying ambition, for "what is the earthly
use of having ideas if you have not the money
to carry them out ? " and, moreover, not for the
gratification of ambition for personal aggrandise-
1897] A VALIANT TRENCHERMAN 31
ment, but for that of the Great Empire which
both men served so well ; but as " South Africa "
has said, " History will give Rhodes his true place
in the roll of Englishmen whose one thought has
been the glory of their country." In everything
the man was big, although his greatness has in
certain quarters only been acknowledged to lie
in his faults.
Rhodes was a valiant trencherman — one might
almost call him a gross feeder. On the veld he
liked getting the joint in front of him, and cutting
off great hunks of meat ; and at home at Groote
Schuur he would get up and go to a side-table,
carve for himself, and carry over to his plate on
his fork what he carved. When making a voyage,
he always sent a cow on board in order to have
fresh milk, and also a crate with a couple of dozen
laying hens to provide fresh eggs, and these were
killed during the voyage. As the cows were not
allowed to be landed in England, they were, on
arrival at Southampton, presented to the cook
or butcher and slaughtered. He also, as a rule,
carried his own brand of champagne and his
favourite klimmel. An amusing story occurs to
mind anent this. I was in a drawing-room at
Kimberley once, and of those present I only knew
my hostess. There were two ladies to whom I
had not been introduced sitting near talking of
Rhodes, and I suddenly heard my name men-
tioned ; I caught my hostess's eye, and we heard,
to our amusement, one go on to speak of Rhodes's
habit of having a crate of fowls on board, and
related how on one occasion he had told me to
\
S2 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
get a couple of the hens killed, and I replied that
some were laying and some not, and it seemed
a pity to kill the layers. " Well," Rhodes said,
" you can watch them, can't you, and see which
are laying ? " I was said by the narrator to have
replied that the hens only laid at night. " Then,"
said she, " Rhodes got very angry, and said,
' Surely you can get a lantern, and sit up with
them at night.' " Of course, there was no truth
in this tale, but it is only one of the many that were
told of Rhodes and his "young men," having as
much foundation in fact.
Before leaving England on his last voyage in
January 1902, on the "Briton," he had become
rather more fastidious about his food. A crate
of hens was sent down from the Salvation Army
farm, but he told me to get a supply of preserved
meats, etc. I went to Messrs. Fortnum & Mason's,
and a large stock of all manner of things — in cans,
in porcelain, and glass — was sent on board and
put under Tony's charge. Naturally I had to
have a large variety, and so ordered only a few
dozen of each, as it was impossible to tell which
he was likely to care for. Moreover, there were
five in the party — Rhodes, Dr. Jameson, Sir
Charles Metcalfe, the Hon. William Grenfell, and
myself — and all shared in the " extras." Every-
thing went smoothly at first, but at last Rhodes
struck some potted thing he particularly liked,
and in a few days there was none left. I ex-
plained that only a few dozen of each had been
ordered, or the ship would have been filled ; as
it was, a third-class cabin was turned into a store-
i
1902] PHYSICAL COURAGE 33
room, and it was packed from top to bottom.
Tony was sent for, but he could not unearth any
more of the delicacy, and Rhodes turned to me.
saying, "I believe you will die in a workhouse
yet." Of course, none of the food on board —
which, as a matter of fact, is excellent — pleased
him after that, and as he sent away one dish after
another he said, " Really, Donald Currie ought
to be hanged by the neck."
While Rhodes's conduct during the Rebellion
and his incursion into the Matoppos into the
midst of the Matabele (although he used to say
frequently, " I was never in such a funk in my
life," in speaking of tight corners he had been in)
give the impression of remarkable courage, I
never considered that he really possessed physical
courage. His moral courage is not in question ;
but, as has been said, he would have been " more
afraid of being thought afraid." " Not to fear
to be thought afraid " has been described as true
bravery, but it is not the physical courage Clive
possessed, nor Paul Kruger when he faced wounded
lions, and when, his thumb being shattered by his
gun bursting, he calmly took out his pocket-knife
and amputated it.^
Kruger, of course, had the knowledge behind
him of perfect physical condition and great brute
strength, and he probably was not highly sensitive
to physical pain — as in the thumb-cutting episode.
^ Kruger used to tell the story of his gun having burst and shattered
his thumbj and said that he sharpened his knife on his ^' veldschoen,"
then took the end of his thumb in his mouth, placed the knife in
position_, and fixing his eyes on a white stone about twenty yards in
front he suddenly slashed, and the thumb came off in his mouth !
4
34 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
I think the pain and the sight of his own blood
would have made Rhodes sick. He could not
endure physical pain, and on several occasions when
he was lying in bed ill and in pain I have seen the
tears welling up in his eyes and trickling down his
cheeks ; yet in his final illness he bore excruciating
pain with remarkable fortitude. He always had a
dread of a long, lingering illness and a painful
death ; and one day, talking to me with Dr.
Rutherfoord Harris, he said, " You and Harris will
probably die of cancer in the throat and linger on
in agony, but 1 shall go off suddenly without any
pain ; I may go off while I am talking to you now ;
this " — thumping himself on his heart — " will kill
me, but I shan't suffer " ; and yet he suffered agonies
during his last illness, and had an exceedingly
painful end. He had a strange strain of nervous-
ness in him too. At Groote Schuur one day he
noticed a large dry branch on one of the oaks at
the back of the house. It was rather unsightly,
and he suggested its being lopped. " Can't you
shoot it off ? " he said. I got a rifle and broke off
a large part of it, but the main part was too thick
to be smashed off with a bullet. So I sent to the
stable-yard for a boy with an axe. Rhodes and I
stood looking on while the boy swarmed up the
oak (these Cape boys can climb like cats). Then
he started crawling along a branch, axe in hand.
It was not very high — perhaps thirty feet — but
Rhodes turned off and said with a shudder, '* I'm
going inside, I can't stand it — but it's worth doing.
There's a man's life on it." He came out again
later and said : '* You must give him a sovereign —
1902] PUBLIC SPEAKING 35
he risked his Ufe." (I gave him a shilling, with
which he was quite pleased.) ^
Rhodes was no eloquent speaker, nor did he pour"\
out flowers of rhetoric. He adopted an ordinary '
conversational style, and, as he used to say, " took
his audience into his confidence." But he made
his points, and so emphasized them one by one
that any one who had listened to him came away
with a distinct and clear idea of what he intended
to convey, as if one were the only auditor. It has
been said of certain great speakers that one listened
to their flowers of oratory spellbound, and then
wondered what they had been saying, and only
realized when reading reports of the speeches after-
wards. While one listened with as much attention
to Rhodes, one at once grasped his arguments.
His faculty for handling a hostile audience was
marvellous.
He never prepared his speeches really — except
that he would write down a few notes, and for a few
hours before speaking he would either go and lie
down or sit wrapped in thought — probably running
over points to put to his audience.
His speeches were characterized by conciseness
and simplicity of style. In his conversational
manner he would proceed to explain a position
and what he considered the remedy to be applied.
^ The ^' Cape boy " or Africander or brown man, as he calls himself, is
the coloured oiFspring of a European and the Hottentot or Malay,
and is common to garrison towns. He is of all shades, from dark brown
to a mere tinge, and dislikes being called a nigger. Many are the results
of intercourse between the earlier settlers and their Mozambique or
Malay slaves, and in most cases they have adopted the patronymics
of the families to whom they owe their origin.
36 THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
It gave one the impression of a schoolmaster
giving a friendly discourse to a class of students ;
and while he often created amusement by his air of
an assumption of total ignorance of his subject on
the part of his audience, which he proposed to
remedy, his simplicity obviated any possibility of
giving offence.
While he avoided dull platitudes, he often came
out with remarks of obvious truth, which he
delivered with an air of conveying startling new
facts to his listeners.
He was fond of chaffing people about him in a
boyish manner, especially his " young men," and
he often exercised his powers of sarcasm on them,
but he disliked anything in the way of risque
sayings and douhle-entcndre, though he would on
occasion come out with a good full-mouthed
oath.
He was by no means insensible to flattery, and
the references made in his hearing to his resem-
blance to Cgesar and Napoleon did not displease
him ; and he also had his little vanities. He was
obsessed by the thought of living after death in
\the country named after him, in his epigrams and
especially in work, and he highly appreciated the
idea of the enduring character of work as compared
with the transient nature or ephemeral state of
life. The passage in which Marcus Aurelius dwells
upon this subject he had marked in his pocket
edition of " Marcus Aurelius." He never told me,
as Jourdan says he told him, to keep notes of what
was going on around, but in 1898 he asked me to
fetch a copy of a telegram he had sent to Lord
1898] LORD KITCHENER'S WIRE 37
Kitchener after Atbara, and when I produced it he
asked for Lord Kitchener's wire, which read, as far
as I remember, " Have smashed the Mahdi — Frank
wounded but all right — if you don't hurry up I
shall be through before you." Then he returned
me the papers, and said, " You should keep things
like that together, Le Sueur ; you will write things
after my death, and that is something worth remem-
bering."
There was a friendly sort of rivalry between him
and Lord Kitchener as to which was making most
progress — Kitchener from the north and Rhodes
from the south. Just before the opening of the
railway to Bulawayo, Kitchener was very short of
engines for the Soudan Railway, and Rhodes, al-
though he badly needed them, gave up to him two
or three of the engines built for the Bechuanaland
railway-line. Without them the railway could
not possibly have been pushed on that year. Not
long before Rhodes died he was asked to cable a
message to be read at a dinner which was given to
the C.I.V. heroes lately returned to London from
the Boer War. After drafting and re-drafting a
message several times, he cabled, as far as I can
recollect : " Your record shows that Englishmen,
although engaged in commercial pursuits, can still
hold their own in the field." I think the message,
which is of course a reference to Napoleon's famous
gibe at the " nation of shop-keepers," fell rather flat.
I have known him, too, at table make an epigram-
matic remark, and watch for the effect on his
listeners, and if they did not seem to be sufficiently
attending he would repeat it until satisfied that
38 THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
he had driven it home and that it would be
remembered.
He did not care about discussing rehgion — by
which I mean dogmas or creeds — though I have
heard him arguing with a Jesuit Father and others.
I always looked upon him more as an Agnostic
than anything else, but he did speak of his religion
as being an effort for the betterment of mankind,
and his " unifaith " might be said to consist in
framing one's life for the betterment of one's fellow-
beings. I have heard him make the remark, " The
man who says there is no God is a fool," and in
referring to Jesus Christ he always spoke of " our
Saviour." At Barkly West, in 1898, a religious
argument was started in his presence, and after
listening awhile he said, " Let a man be a Buddhist,
let him be a Mohammedan, let him be a Christian
or what you will ; let him call himself what he
likes, but if he does not believe in a Supreme
Being he is no man — he is no better than a
dog."
' Rhodes had great sympathy with the Salva-
tion Army work, and often expressed his admira-
tion of ** General " Booth as an organiser. " A
wonderful man," he termed him. He considered
that the Army was doing great work in the
cause of humanity, and he was always ready to
assist it.
With the unobtrusive and beneficent work of
the Sisters of Nazareth he was in great sympathy,
and the collecting sisters were frequent visitors at
Groote Schuur. He appreciated the fact that the
sisters and nuns of the House of Nazareth were
1 897] SUPPORT TO MISSIONS 39
carrying on great works of charity in South Africa,
as well as in other parts of the world, while the
services they rendered during the Kimberley siege
in the cause to which their lives are devoted can-
not be overestimated.
The Society of Jesus also received the highest
encouragement from him.
In Rhodesia a large grant of land near Salisbury
was made to the Jesuit Fathers. On this the
mission station, Chishawasha, is established, and
here the more or less thankless work of training
the raw native is conducted.
The mission is well equipped and has schools of
various industries. Fruit-growing, the manufacture
of oil, etc., is carried on. The fathers and brothers
even make a very palatable wine from the grapes
grown by themselves. It is customary in Rhodesia,
or South Africa generally for the matter of that, to
scoff at the work of missions and instinctively to
distrust mission-trained natives, generally with very
good reason. It is commonly conceded that a
" boy " does not learn to steal until he has come
into contact with a missionary ; nor a girl im-
morality until she adopts European clothes — in fact,
her morality is judged in inverse ratio to the
amount of clothing she wears ; but although the
ordinary mission "boy" is almost invariably im-
pudent to a white man — the result of the " man
and brother" doctrine — it is a well-known fact
that the Chishawasha " boys " are never wanting
in respect, until, on leaving the mission, they have
it driven out of them by the low-class whites.
Although at Chishawasha they are not instilled
40 THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
with the doctrine held by the Boers, that their
perpetual fate is to be hewers of wood and drawers
of water to the whites, they are taught respect for
their masters, and the Fathers try to imbue them
with a sense of the dignity of labour, and endeavour
to qualify them as more or less useful members
of a community, by instilling into them as much
knowledge of a useful trade as it is possible for
their defective intellects to take in.
Rhodes seldom or never bore malice, but there
was one man whose memory he always reviled, and
that was a certain member of H. M. Stanley's
expedition.
Rhodes had obtained a concession along the
western shore of Lake Tanganyika, which is now
Congo Free State territory, and the precious
document was despatched by native runners to
the coast. The runners fell in with Stanley's party,
and the man referred to, who was said to have
been acting as agent for the Congo Free State,
took the concession from them and destroyed it.
In referring to the incident afterwards, Rhodes
said, " But for the blackguardism of one man I
should have been right through Africa ; but he got
his deserts ; the natives killed him with a poisoned
arrow."
The strip, which connects British East Africa
and Uganda, has lately been the subject of negotia-
tions with the Belgian Government.
Rhodes was always imbued with intense patriot-
ism and pride in being an Englishman, and once
wrote down in his commonplace book : " Ask any
man what nationality he would prefer to be, and
1 897] PRIDE OF RACE 41
ninety-nine out of a hundred will tell you that
they would prefer to be Englishmen." ^
In one of his speeches he retailed an interview
he had had with Borckenhagen, a German, editor of
the "Free State Express" and a staunch National-
ist. Borckenhagen, Rhodes stated, said to him,
" Mr. Rhodes, we must combine." Rhodes replied,
" I quite agree with you." " Just one thing,"
Borckenhagen went on : " we must have our own
flag." Rhodes said he answered : " Then I am
not with you. If you take my flag, you take
everything. You must think me either a knave
or a fool. I should be a fool to give up my flag
and my traditions, and I should be a knave because
I should be despised by my own countrymen and
distrusted by yours."
The whole of this conversation was afterwards
denied by Borckenhagen.
Rhodes was not overcome with awe or shyness
when he came to face the Great Ones of the earth.
The story is well known of his interview in con-
nection with the Transcontinental Telegraph with
the German Emperor, who admired Rhodes very
much, and for whom Rhodes in turn had enormous
admiration. They had been conversing for quite
a long time, the Kaiser being much interested,
when Rhodes glanced at a clock and got up, and,
instead of waiting to be dismissed, as Court
etiquette demanded, he held out his hand to the
Emperor, to the latter's amusement, and said,
' Earl Grey said of him that while they had their differences of
opinion, he could testify that he had "never met any man who was
Mr. Rhodes's superior in either magnanimity or real genuinQ
patriotism."
42 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
" Well, good-bye : I've got to go now, as I have
some people coming to dinner."
While he was staying at Sandringham, he wrote
down the following, as far as 1 can remember it.
I don't know its origin, but always thought it was
something his late Majesty, King Edward VII.,
then Prince of Wales, said to him :
" You and I have much in common. . . . You
have many instincts — Religion, Love, Ambition,
Money-making (which from your point of view
I consider the best) — but if you differ from me,
go and work for that instinct you deem best."
When he visited the Sultan of Turkey, from
whom he managed to get permission to take some
Angora goats (rams) out of the country, the
exportation being otherwise prohibited, he arrived
at the hour of his appointment for the interview
with his overcoat on and buttoned up. Fearful
of allowing him into the Presence with an overcoat
on, under which he might have concealed firearms,
bombs, and daggers, the gentlemen-in-waiting
smilingly advanced to relieve him of it ; but
Rhodes sturdily refused to remove his overcoat,
for the very good reason that he only had an
ordinary lounge suit on underneath — hardly the
dress in which to be presented to royalty. The
attendants implored him to remove the overcoat,
assuring him that it was impossible for him to be
admitted unless he did so. " All right," said
Rhodes, " then I won't go in at all." This would
never do, and the attendants, seeing that further
effort was useless, escorted him into the Presence
of the Unspeakable One.
1 897] CONSIDERATE FEELING 48
Rhodes was very considerate, and hated hurting
any one's feelings, though he very often did so " in
the course of business." When I first joined him
and we left Kimberley by train for the north, he
and his party had just come from a function at the
Kimberley Club, and had on starched white shirts
and collars, while I had a soft collarless one. I felt
rather awkward, and I remarked that I was the only
one in the party in flannels. In a minute or two
Rhodes, probably thinking I was uncomfortable,
went to his compartment, from which he presently
emerged, having discarded his starched shirt and
collar and donned soft ones like mine.
He showed this trait, too, once while we were
camped on the veld. His servant, Antony de la Cruz,
was a strange mixture of Chinaman, Portuguese,
and Cape boy, and while he was standing near us
we saw a man coming up. I said he was a nigger,
Rhodes a white man. As he neared us, 1 saw
that he was an ofF-coloured Cape boy, and there-
fore, according to South African ideas, as much a
nigger as an aboriginal native.
I said, " There you are — a nigger right enough ! "
^ " Of course he's not," said Rhodes. " He's a
white man, sunburnt like Tony."
Then, when Tony was out of hearing, he said,
" Didn't you see Tony standing by ? " However,
Tony might be excused for considering himself a
white man, as many of the so-called Portuguese
and Goanese, who are darker than the majority of
Cape boys, consider themselves Europeans and
white men. A favourite Rhodesian pleasing fancy
is to address these gentry in kitchen kafir. It can
44 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
never be said of Rhodes that he ever deserted a
friend or failed to reward service rendered him.
" We must do something for So and So," he would
remark. " Let us make him a director of De
Beers." Captain Penfold, with whom he formed
and maintained a strong friendship from the day
when he first went to the Cape Parliament, and
Sir Thomas Fuller, who had been long politically-
associated with him, he made directors of De
Beers. Sir Graham Bower, who had been Imperial
Secretary under Sir Hercules Robinson at the time
of the Raid, and who had fallen into more or less
disfavour, he offered employment under the Char-
tered Company, but Sir Graham preferred to rely
upon the Colonial Office and Rhodes's and Lord
Grey's influence with them than to arouse comment
by taking an appointment under the Chartered
Company. Sir Lewis Michell, who for many years
attended to all his financial affairs, was, immediately
after Rhodes's death, appointed chairman of De
Beers, and later on went to London as a Director
on the Board of the Chartered Company.
Rhodes had no fear of being accused of nepotism
in making his appointments either. When Gardner
Wilhams resigned his position as general manager
of De Beers, he told Rhodes that he did not like to
recommend his son as his successor, simply because
he was his son ; but Rhodes said, " What on earth
does that matter ? If a man is fit for the post,
it doesn't matter tuppence what personal interest
there is in it."
He was rather grumbled at for employing so
many American engineers, but he calmly replied
1 897] FACULTY OF CREATION 45
that his experience was that they were the only-
engineers who understood the work required of
them. " If you want a man for a position, you
want some one who understands the work." Thus
the majority of the engineers in De Beers' employ
and even on the Rand were Americans.
Rhodes used to say that the greatest of all life's
pleasures was the faculty of creation. The man
who had the genius of creation he regarded as the
man who could contemplate his handiwork with
the greatest satisfaction. " It is a thing of my own
creation : creative genius, that's what I've got.
It is a great thing to have," he said. He would
speak of having *' created " the mountain view
behind Groote Schuur, by cutting away the thick
bush which hid it, or of having " created " Groote
Schuur itself as a pleasure-resort for the public,
and he regarded it with satisfaction as his own
product, as the Almighty may have regarded the
earth when " He saw that it was good."
If Rhodes had any particular hobby it was^
farming. In Rhodesia he acquired two blocks of
farms — one stretching along the Matoppos, where
he built a large dam in the hope of growing winter
crops by means of irrigation, as, the summer months
being the rainy season, the advent of rust pre-
vented wheat and oats being grown ; and the other
at Inyanga, which he hoped would be suitable for
fruit, and where he intended utilizing as far as
possible the old irrigation furrows which exist.
These blocks of ground he purchased at high prices
as an ordinary private individual. (This just to
contradict a statement I have heard frequently
46 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
made that it was easy enough for Rhodes to equip
farms cheaply, as he got the ground as a free grant
from the Chartered Company.)
In the Cape Colony, besides encouraging farming
by giving valuable prizes at agricultural shoves, he
made De Beers purchase a number of farms near
Kimberley, and imported a number of blood stock-
horses and cattle. The horses included some Arabs
from Mr. Wilfrid Blunt 's stock. The farms at
Kimberley were under the charge of W, D. Fynn,
and De Beers are constant prize-winners and
exhibitors at shows.
For the fruit-farms in the western province
Rhodes had the advantage of the advice of
H. E. V. Pickstone, a Californian fruit expert,
and under his guidance the fruit-growing and
jam manufacture has thriven. Rhodes also pur-
chased a farm on the Cape flats, not far from
Groote Schuur, on which he placed prize poultry
and Yorkshire pigs, and where he also planted
paddocks with grass seed from Queen's Town,
Cape Colony, and the island of Madeira. This
farm was not a success, however, and the stock
was moved, and the place is now used as training
stables for racehorses. In order to improve the
strain of Angora goats in the Cape, Rhodes, as I
have said, obtained from the Sultan of Turkey
special permission to purchase and export some
Angora rams. They were introduced to the Cape
Colony and issued to the farmers at cost price ;
but his action in importing them was condemned
by the farmers' associations, who deemed that the
rams should have been selected by some one aware
1 897] FAVOURITE BOOKS 4lr
of local conditions and acquainted with the strains
which would be most suitable for introduction into
the Cape flocks.
Rhodes was an omnivorous reader. Like Macau-
lay, he would throw himself down with half-a-
dozen books and dip first into one and then another.
Besides his favourite Gibbon, he read books of
history with zest and also biography ; while
" Plutarch's Lives " were a source of never-ending
pleasure. Amongst other books that appealed to
him were such as Bryce's ** American Common-
wealth," Milner's " England in Egypt," and the
works of Mahan on the Influence of Sea Power,
while he now and again read some modern novel,
a selection of which used to be sent out to him by
Hatchard, of Piccadilly. He had a few of Thac-
keray's works and one or two of Dickens, but on
somebody asking him once whether he ever read
Dickens, he replied that he was " not interested in
the class of people Dickens wrote about." He had
a large number of books on Federation and Con-
stitutional Government, but they were usually
on the shelves of the library. He once gave Miss
Mary Brailsford a copy of R. L. Stevenson's
" Treasure Island." " You ought to read it," he
said; "it's a very good book — very instructive."
" Have you read it, Mr. Rhodes ? " she naively
inquired. "Now you run away and play," was
Rhodes's answer, turning and smiling at Brailsford.
He did not care at all for poetry, nor did he read
many novels, but he had nearly all Kipling's works
in his library ; he was very fond of Rudyard
Kipling, he said, because " he writes such charming
48 THE MAN RHODES [ch. hi
letters." He had the "Woolsack," built like
Groote Schuur in old Dutch architecture, on
the Groote Schuur estate, and Kipling spent a
portion of each year there.
Marcus Aurelius was a favourite of his, and
he had a pocket edition, which he carried for many
years, and the margins of the pages of which he
had marked and covered with annotations. This
was, however, missed after his death, and I don't
think it has been traced. One night at dinner he
was discussing books with a certain " man of
affairs " at Salisbury, and the latter recommended
certain books to him, and said he would lend them
to him. After dinner 1 walked home with him,
and he handed me the three volumes, which he took
from his shelves. On my return to Government
House I found that the pages of none of the books
had been cut !
He used to do little more than glance through
newspapers, and of magazines his favourites were
the " Nineteenth Century," " Contemporary," and
the " North American Review," though he nearly
always read " South Africa " and " The Spectator."
It will surprise many, even of his intimates, to
hear that Rhodes kept a commonplace book, but
its contents were nearly all quotations from Gibbon,
and on the fly-leaf of one of his books he had
written an epigrammatic remark, the purport of
which I forget, but to which he added "not
Gibbon, but the thought of another."
Rhodes was not actually an animal lover. He
did not care much for horses or dogs, though he
always had a favourite horse, and he would now
I
1898] HIS PORTRAITS 49
and then say he liked a particular dog. Perhaps
the two he liked most were two superb collies
given him by Panmure Gordon, and with one of
which he was photographed at Iver. This he
always regarded as his best photograph.
He was always much taken with his portrait by
Herkomer and with a small painting by the late
Lady Romilly. A picture of himself was once
sent to him in London by a lady who had painted
it from a photograph taken at the laying of a
foundation-stone at Port Elizabeth, and he was
shown standing leaning on a spade. I showed him
the painting, and he was delighted with it. *' Why,
that's me^ he said — *' that's my face exactly"; and
he walked up and down the room with it and
asked me to write and ask the lady who had
painted it to call. There is one very characteristic
photograph of him, of which he ordered a great
number of copies. It w^as taken outside the De
Beers car at Vryburg when we were there on our
way north in 1897. Another very characteristic
study of him is a water-colour done by Mortimer
Menpes at Groote Schuur, where he depicted him
in his white flannels on horseback.
He was always averse to being photographed
side-face, and when having his portrait taken in-
sisted on facing the camera.
While having a great financial brain, Rhodes
was never really a speculator in shares, and
although he was always anxious about the effect
of his speeches, reports of his health, etc., on the
market, when he required money to adjust his
overdrafts he would sell a good stock like De
5
50 THE MAN RHODES [ch. iii
Beers or Goldfields, but not be influenced by the
price of rotten stuff to make money. It has been
often said that he did not understand money-
making. If he did not understand its making, he
superlatively comprehended the use of it.
The conception of an idea and steps for its
execution were almost simultaneous with him.
When out riding, he would sometimes think of
something, and ask me to remind him as soon as
we returned home, but he never needed reminding,
and immediately on our return he would start
to give effect to his thought. He left things a
great deal to the men he trusted, and he had full
confidence in the men he employed. He would
give his instructions, and there was an end of the
matter ; he expected them carried out, and no
one was given a second chance who went to him
with a tale of failure.
" Women ! of course I don't hate women," said
Rhodes once ; " I like them, but I don't want them
always fussing about." Whether he liked women
or not, he did prefer the society of men, although
he was, as a rule, courteous and considerate to
women ; but sometimes he would be brusque and
unconventional. There were a few who were
favourites of his, and he really enjoyed himself in
their company. Then there is his well-known
reply to Queen Victoria when she said she had
heard that he was a woman-hater, and he an-
swered, " How could I possibly hate a sex to
which your Majesty belongs ! "
No, Rhodes was no woman-hater, but he would
not be fussed. He was, of course, much run after,
1 897] WOxMEN 51
especially in London, where one lady in particular
seemed to spend most of her time in inveigling
Rhodes into her carriage to drive him round the
Park, proudly displaying to her friends this lion,
captive to her spear and bow. She was about to
buy a new carriage once, and her husband set his
face dead against a victoria. Miss Edith Rhodes
was present, and immediately said to him, " /
know why you won't have a victoria ; it is because
when your wife goes out driving with my brother
you have to sit on the little front seat like a
footstool, and it is not very comfortable, is it ?
There you are — 1 knew I was right."
Before this gentlewoman's marriage the man
who is now her husband asked Rhodes to inter-
cede for him, as his suit was not progressing very
favourably. Rhodes used his power of persuasion,
but for a long time the lady was obdurate, and wrote
him a number of letters, the main purport of which
was that she could not, could not, and would not
marry his friend. But she did in the end, and the
marriage is pronounced a very suitable and happy
one. If she ever reads these lines, she may rest
assured that her letters were seen only by Rhodes,
and that they were destroyed by fire.
On one occasion as we were riding, we passed
two native women very scantily attired, and shortly
afterwards he asked me abruptly how the sight
appealed to me, and then, while I was mildly
wondering what sort of reply he expected, he
went on inconsequently, "You may ask why I
never married, and do you know ? I answer you
very fairly that I have never yet seen the woman
52 THE MAN RHODES [ch. iii
whom I could get on in the same house with." In
spite of this there was one woman, a very charming
daughter of a Cape family, whom he felt he could
get on with, for he proposed to her several times.
She was a very beautiful girl, and she afterwards
married a soldier and became a great favourite in
London society. There was another beautiful and
distinguished woman whose carriage was often
seen at the Old Burlington Street entrance of the
Burlington Hotel, and she would wait for hours
after I had told her Rhodes was in the city or out
anywhere, and he would make his escape by the
Cork Street entrance ; nor do I think she once
succeeded in catching him. He had two or three
woman friends with whom he used to ride in the
Parkin the mornings, and he enjoyed their society.
He had his own idea of female beauty. 1 recol-
lect the first time I rode out to the Matoppos with
him. We had not been at the huts for ten minutes
when he said, " Now, Le Sueur, 1 want you to see
my idea of a really beautiful native girl. You take
him and show him, Huntley."
Harry Huntley and I rode off, and went to a
kraal a short distance away, and the little lady came
out to greet us. She was Lo Bengula's youngest
daughter, and Rhodes called her " the Princess."
She was a light copper-coloured and pleasant-
featured girl of sixteen or seventeen, with a beau-
tiful figure, and was named " N'tupusela," which is
the native name for the rosy hue in the East
before daybreak.
On board ship once the usual fancy-dress ball
was held, and I had designed and drawn a dress
T902] "WHO^S THE BRIDE?" 53
representing "Cape to Cairo," a picture of Table
Bay and Mountains in water-colours at the bottom,
and pictures representing the chief towns on the
way to Cairo all the way up the skirt, all joined
together with a string of telegraph-poles and wire
in black. On the head was a fez, crescent, etc.,
and on one side of the bodice a portrait of
Kitchener, and on the other one of Rhodes.
Incidentally it took the first prize, but Rhodes
knew nothing of it. We were seated at dinner
when the young lady who wore it entered.
Rhodes looked up as she passed our table, and
then said, " By Jove ! that young woman has got
my picture on her stomach." Luckily she did
not overhear the remark. On another voyage
there was a dance on board, and I was sitting
with Rhodes on deck when the dancers came
up from the saloon. A young girl came up
amongst them, who wore a little wreath of
flowers in her hair. " Who's the bride ? " in-
quired Rhodes. "She isn't a bride," I answered.
"Of course she is," said he, "else why the devil
has she got that thing in her hair ? " nor would
anything persuade him that she had not usurped
some prerogative of a bride in her dress. When
we came out in 1902, there was a delightful family
on board. There were two daughters, and Rhodes
was very interested in the elder girl. " That," he
said to me, "is my ideal of a beautiful English
girl. You must introduce me to her." I asked
him to be on deck just before dinner, and waited
for him at the gangway entrance to the saloon
with her. Presently he came along and 1 intro-
54 THE MAN RHODES [cH. iii
duced him. They spoke for a few minutes, and
we went in to dinner. I don't know if he talked
to her much afterwards, as he was not well, but
he continually spoke of her admiringly. He had
a Napoleonic habit of sometimes calling attention
to a woman's dress, and he would say things
" that gave them to think." When the Reformers
were in gaol at Pretoria, they were visited by
numbers of their lady friends, who brought them
delicacies, flowers, etc. One used to be very
marked in ministering to Colonel Frank Rhodes's
comfort. She used to come at least once a day
to the gaol, if not often er. She afterwards married
and settled in Bulawayo ; and one day she and
her husband came out to spend a couple of days
at Rhodes's huts in the Matoppos. At dinner
the first night Rhodes asked her all about herself,
and she mentioned going to see Colonel Frank
in gaol, and her maiden name. ** Oh, yes," said
Rhodes, " I know — you are the woman who wanted
to marry my brother."
CHAPTER IV
RHODES AS AN ORGANIZER
Rhodes's methods of organization may best be ^ ^
described as " thorough," and thorough because/
he gave matters his undivided personal attention.
Nothing more absurd about him was ever said
than that he was "too big to consider details."
It might much more truly be said that he was
big enough not to disregard the smallest detail,
knowing full well how often neglect of a seemingly
negligible point has wrecked many a project and
caused the best-laid schemes to " gang agley."
His immense power of concentration of thought
enabled him at once to place his finger upon a \
weak spot, and it often lay in an apparently /
insignificant detail which a smaller man might ♦
overlook.
The broad basis of a big idea might readily be
conceived by a very ordinary brain, but require
the application of a master mind to grasp its
minutiae and bring it to a successful issue.
Although it sounds incredible, it has been
authoritatively stated that Rhodes once, while
personally conducting Khama, the Mangwato
King, over Groote Schuur, pointed out his bed
65
56 RHODES AS AN ORGANIZER [ch. iv
to the dusky chief and said, " This is where 1 lie
and think in continents."
The story has been told with bated breath as
illustrating the greatness of Rhodes's mind ; but to
think in continents, or for the matter of that
universes, might easily be quite a sound occupation
for the mind or lack of it in the veriest " luny " in
Bedlam.
In Rhodes his big ideals were practicable, and
he was capable of devising and applying the
measures for their consummation. Where diffi-
culties might appear unsurmountable to the
many, the one loophole would be fixed upon by
Rhodes.
Any question with which Rhodes had to deal
he examined from every point of view, and his
complete mastery of its details was the result of
his thoroughly thrashing it out, and concentrating
his mind upon it in the seclusion of his bedroom
or .the solitudes of the mountain-side.
On a proposal being made to him he would
often ask : " Have you thought of so-and-so ? " and
on receiving the reply that that aspect had not
presented itself to the proposer, he would answer,
throwing himself back in his chair with a grim
smile, or springing to his feet, hands thrust into
fobs : " Oh, I can see you getting into a hell of a
mess " ; then go on, " It's quite obvious, ..." or
" It's perfectly clear, . . ." or " Don't you see, etc.? "
and proceed to point out the lion in the path and
the way to evade him.
He nearly always, in private conversation,
assumed that what was obvious to him must
1 899] GRASP OF DETAIL 57
necessarily be manifest to any one else, who had
probably not grasped the details.
When the idea of amalgamating the diamond
interests in Kimberley occurred to him, he set
himself thoroughly to master everything connected
with the industry.
He knew the cost of labour, hauling, washing,
sorting, etc., to the yield per load, as well as the
prices of the different classes of rough stones, the
expense of cutting and polishing, and the purchas-
ing capacity of the public — and what is more, he
carried these particulars in his head.
He was in this way enabled to meet experts on
their own ground — very often much to their
surprise.
When Jameson proposed marching on Bulawayo
in 1893, Rhodes's very wire to him, advising him
to read Luke xiv. 31, was an injunction to Jameson
thoroughly to go into details before venturing on
a decisive step.
His plans were well laid and prepared, and if
they did now and then go wrong it certainly was
not because he had neglected to give full considera-
tion to the smallest point.
His great error, of course, stands out strikingly^
in his under-estimate of the fighting strength of \
the Boers in 1899 ; but here he had little or 1
nothing upon w^hich to form an estimate, or else
he was determined that, whatever the cost, war
was inevitable.
The Rhodes of 1899, moreover, was not the
Rhodes of a very few years previous. Had he not
been failing even then, he would not have been
J
58 RHODES AS AN ORGANIZER [ch. iv
peevishly irritable to, and irritated by, Colonel
Kekewich in Kimberley.
In all his doings Rhodes believed in maintaining
absolute secrecy until all danger of a check was
past, and then he would talk quite freely and
display his hand openly.
However, taken all in all, the success of most
of the schemes organized by Rhodes after their
primary conception may be said to have been
largely contributed to by the fact that he had
thoroughly mastered their details and neglected
none.
A matter once taken in hand, Rhodes applied
all his mind and energies to it, and was not
diverted from his purpose by small obstacles which,
as a rule, could be swept away. Where large ones
intervened which he could not batter down he
used the faculty he possessed for overcoming
opposition by conciliation, and thus an irresistible
force meeting an immovable body often resulted
in its course being deviated — but the force
went on.
Rhodes had an absolute gift for concealing his
real intent without making an actual misstate-
ment, and he perfectly understood the art of
temporizing.
In his negotiations with Barney Barnato, where
the latter apparently held the trump cards,
although Rhodes had the backing of Lord
Rothschild, Rhodes puzzled his Jewish adversary
by suddenly pretending indifference, and then
altering his role of buyer to that of seller ; he
exchanged mining claims for shares in Barnato's
1883-4] "CONCILIATORY METHODS" 59
company, thus obtaining a large holding in the
Barnato properties (the Kimberley mine), and
proceeded then to increase his holding of shares
until he held a controlling interest.
(N.B. — One wonders whether Barnato, at the
time, thought that in purchasing the claims held
by Rhodes, and giving shares in payment, he was
buying Rhodes out.)
Rhodes's axiom that " every man has his price "
was vulgarly applied to his suggestion to " square
the Mahdi," which was freely criticized as a boast
that the Mahdi could be bought off.
It is morally certain that in saying that every
man has his price, and that the Mahdi could be
"squared," Rhodes felt that he had proved the
possibilities of " conciliatory " methods, but then
he had the personality, which he had frequently
used to evolve order out of chaos — and this strong
personahty often stood him in good stead.
In the Bechuanaland disturbance of 1883-4 his
personality and conciliatory methods averted a
catastrophe and appeal to arms.
The natives were satisfied with the annexation
and the protection promised them, while the Boer
freebooters were left in undisturbed possession of
the farms they had jumped and settled down
contentedly.
When Rhodesia was rushed by the Boers, under
Ferreira, a conflict was avoided by the exercise of
tact, and those who came with arms in their hands
were content to come in under the Chartered
Company's rule, and to occupy the land allotted to
them as peaceable settlers.
60 RHODES AS AN ORGANIZER [ch. iv
Rhodes terminated the Matabele rebellion of
1896 by a talk to the rebel chiefs, earning the
name of " the Separator of the Fighting Bulls,"
and he brought them to a right frame of mind
by " deahng " with them just as he had dealt with
the Pondos.
Even in Cape politics he won his greatest
victories by applying his methods of " concihation."
He " conciliated " the coloured voters in the
Cape Colony by propounding and advocating the
doctrine of " equal rights to every civilized man
south of the Zambesi " (a deplorable necessity),
and then in turn propitiated the Dutch wine
farmers, who were opposed to his native franchise
policy, by giving them an excise on their brandy,
together with a heavy duty on imported spirits.
While Rhodes's methods, in short, were in the
main forceful, he appreciated to the full his
peculiar capacity for " dealing with " men, and he
was assisted in the latter by a certain savoif'-faire,
which frequently disarmed an opponent, especially
when Rhodes ** took him into his confidence ! "
CHAPTER V
RHODES AND THE CAPE AND POLITICS GENERALLY
In 1880 Rhodes, then twenty-seven years of age,
was elected one of the members of the Cape
House of Assembly for Barkly West, and went
to Cape Town to take his seat in the House to
represent the Diamond Diggers.
Although quite a young man, he was from the
first looked on as a possible leader — at any rate,
regarded as a strong man who would go far, and
some day arrive, as the French say. It was not,
however, until 1884 that he accomplished anything
striking ; but his opportunity came when he saw
his route to the north in danger of being blocked
by the establishment of small Boer republics in
the native territories of Bechuanaland.
Affairs were somewhat uneventful after the
Boer War of 1881, when, instead of the Boer
power being crushed once and for all, a shameful
peace was concluded.
Then the Republics of Stellaland, Goshen, and
Rooi Grond were established by freebooters from
the Transvaal, who seized the land from the
native Bechuana chiefs Mankoroane, Moshete,
and Montsoia, and parcelled it out in farms ; and
61
62 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
here Rhodes first met and crossed swords with
President Kruger. The Transvaal Government
had declared these republics to be under its
protection ; but the loss of the territory to the
British flag meant a serious thing to Rhodes's
schemes, as Bechuanaland shut him off from the
north. Representations to the Imperial Govern-
ment resulted in a missionary, Mr. John Mackenzie,
a man of character and determination, being sent
up as a British resident, and the invasion of the
Boer filibusters was declared contrary to the
Convention of London ^ ; but the natives were
informed that the British Government could not
support them against freebooters ! Yet in Feb-
ruary 1884 the ground was proclaimed a British
protectorate.
Mr. Mackenzie was a negrophilist and much
prejudiced against the Boers. He was determined
to oust the Dutchmen, and proclaimed all the
farms in the new republics the property of the
British Government.
The subsequent treatment meted out to Mr.
Mackenzie has been held by many not alto-
gether to redound to Rhodes's credit. From
Mackenzie's first appointment Rhodes certainly
did all he could to prejudice the High Commis-
sioner, with whom he always had great influence,
against him, and have himself sent up to replace
him.
It might have been highly expedient for Rhodes
^ The much-discussed Conventiou of London, 1881, under which the
Transvaal Government was entrusted with the control of their internal
affairs only, and the British suzerainty established over the South
African Republic.
1884] TROUBLE IN BECHUANALAND 63
to be on the spot, but Mackenzie was deserving
of more than an expression of want of confidence.
His mistake possibly lay in declaring the farms
the property of the Government and in attempt-
ing to dispossess the Boers, who had occupied
them, and replacing them by Britishers.
He found it impossible to accomplish his aims
without adequate force ; but upon his requisition-
ing for men he was recalled, and Rhodes later
replaced him.
The British Government stepped in, and deter-
mined to despatch an expedition, under Sir Charles
Warren, towards the end of 1884 to occupy
Bechuanaland.
In November 1884 a Cape Commission, con-
sisting of the late Sir Thomas Upington, Prime
Minister, the late Sir Gordon Sprigg, Treasurer,
Mr. Stephanus Marais, M.L.A. (Paarl), with Mr.
Sydney Cowper and R. W. Murray, proceeded to
the disaffected area.
They interviewed the chiefs Montsoia, Manko-
roane and Moshete, whose territory had been
invaded, and found both Moshete and Mankoroane
determined to wait until Colonel Warren, in whom
they had implicit confidence, came out ; while
Moshete was anxious to retain his independence
and was averse to annexation either to the Trans-
vaal or the Cape.
It appeared that in August 1884 over a hundred
of Montsoia's people were killed by the Boers.
Montsoia's people had sown on land claimed by
the Goshenites and were warned off. Some time
after, the Boers being scattered, the natives burned
64 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
portions of their dorp (village). The freebooters,
then collected and fully armed, proceeded to reap
what the natives had sown (also evidently to loot,
as they brought in some 8,000 head of cattle and
sheep).
They were attacked by 150 natives, under
Christopher Bethell, an Englishman. The natives
were repulsed and 103 killed. On the following
day seven natives went out to search for wounded,
and these, with nine wounded, were also despatched
— total, 119. Bethell himself was wounded in the
eye, and his brains were subsequently blown out
by one of the Boers
The freebooters declared that the advent of
Imperial troops would mean a general rising of the
Dutch-born population, while the Stellalanders
were in favour of annexation by the Cape Colony.
The Commission did not effect much, though
a conference of Cape Ministers decided on annexa-
tion to the Cape, and matters did not proceed
further towards a settlement until the arrival of
Sir Charles Warren's expedition. This expedition
was accompanied by Rhodes, and a peaceful occu-
pation was effected, while a complete settlement
was come to early in 1885, after a meeting with
the late President, Paul Kruger.
(This was Rhodes's first meeting with Paul
Kruger, although Sir Joseph Robinson has said
that he first introduced the two men in 1886, when
a meeting was held on the subject of gold titles on
the Rand.)
Rhodes strongly objected to Mackenzie being
present at the interview, and he had a disagreement
1 884] THE SETTLEMENT 65
with Sir Charles Warren as to the terms of the
settlement, Rhodes wishing to give the Boer
filibusters title to the farms they had settled on
and Sir Charles supporting Mackenzie in his wish
to supersede them with British settlers. Rhodes,
as usual, had his way.
The territory was annexed as British Bechuana-
land, and in 1893 ceded to the Cape Colony with
its border at Mafeking. After the Warren ex-
pedition, Rhodes returned to the Cape through the
Transvaal, and for the next few years busied himself
with preparations for northern expansion.
About now the Cape Government again urged
the annexation of Damaraland, which had been
pressed on the British Government since 1867, and
which is now German South-West Africa — perhaps
the most highly mineralized part of Africa. The
Imperial Government was, however, apathetic.
Rhodes was included in Sir Thomas Scanlen's
Ministry of 1884 as Treasurer-General and then
Minister without portfolio.
Although the political situation at the Cape was,
of course, always of great importance to Rhodes if
he were to have an untrammelled hand in push-
ing his northern policy, it was just as important to
him to safeguard the huge interests of De Beers,
as he relied upon their funds to further his schemes.
The diamond industry, moreover, depended upon
control of the market, and in order to obtain this
control indiscriminate dealings in diamonds had to
be suppressed. To this end the Illicit Diamond
Buyers Acts w^ere brought into being.
Under these Acts the ordinary criminal procedure
6
66 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
is practically reversed, and instead of an accused
person being innocent until he is proved guilty, the
onus of proof of his innocence is thrown upon him.
The operation of the Act necessitated the trapping
system, which inevitably opens the door to num-
berless abuses, which were — at all events, in the old
days — freely practised, and in consequence of which
many a perfectly innocent man has undergone long
periods of imprisonment owing to his inability to
establish his innocence when circumstantial facts
were against him. Many of these were scape-
goats who were paid to endure the punishment
which should otherwise have been borne by their
employers ; many of them on liberation were
repudiated by their employers, and, having no
remedy, contented themselves with attempts to
blackmail and bombarding their deceivers with
threats.
The late Barney Barnato received shoals of
letters from men who opined that he had reaped
the benefit of their incarceration, and they drove
him to a state of nervousness bordering on frenzy.
These letters, which contained dire threats, were
rudely embroidered with skull and cross-bones and
coffins, etc. He was known during the last months
of his life to leave his bed in the early hours of the
morning in his pyjamas, and, barefooted, walk a
mile and more to the house of a friend for protec-
tion from imaginary pursuers, crying out, '* They're
after me ; they're after me ! " No wonder that
he drank freely, and finally ended his life in a
frenzied attempt to escape from the supposed
vengeance of one of his victims.
1 888] THE I.D.B. ACTS 67
If a man had a grievance against another, and
wished to " put him away," all he had to do was to
secrete a stone about the other's person or drop it
into his tobacco-pouch and then give information.
The victim was searched, the stone found, and as
he was unable to account for his possession of the
stone, he would be convicted and sentenced to
anything from two to ten years' hard labour. The
penalty was twenty years' hard labour under the
later Act.
The I.D.B. Act was looked on as an iniquitous
piece of legislation — however necessary in the
interests of the diamond industry — and its un-
popularity was proved a few years ago when a
Kimberley diamond-broker was charged on a
number of counts (nineteen I think in all) with
infringing the Act. Knowing that an unprejudiced
jury would not be obtained in Kimberley, he was
tried in Cape Town, and the case was apparently
clearly proved. The judge summed up dead
against the accused, but the jury, after retiring,
brought in a verdict of " not guilty " on all the
counts, the verdict being received with applause
in a packed court. The judge was speechless at
first, and then addressed the jury, saying that he
had told them in as clear words as he could employ
that the man was guilty, and he left it to them to
reconcile their verdict with their consciences. In
the whole course of many years' experience on the
bench he said he had never heard a more dis-
graceful verdict. Then turning to the accused,
he said curtly, " The jury says you are not guilty ;
you may go."
68 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
De Beers always had a certain number of
nominees in the House of Assembly. The Diamond
Diggings were almost wholly represented by
members interested in De Beers, while their funds
were freely used to support candidates in other
constituencies. Grants for schools, athletic grounds,
etc., were freely made, prizes offered at agricul-
tural shows, and there were few doubtful con-
stituencies where a glimpse of the long purse
of De Beers was not obtained.
The Namaqualand copper-fields and railway
were developed by De Beers while Francis Oats
(a director) and Rhodes contested the seats in
1898 ; the latter stood at the same time for Barkly
West, and on his election for both places decided
in favour of his old constituency, and his place for
Namaqualand was taken by Sir Pieter Faure, a
staunch friend.
Stellenbosch, WeUington, and Paarl were all
strong Bond' strongholds. In 1897 and 1898
Rhodes, through his agents, commenced buying
fruit-farms in these districts from their Bond
owners, with a view to settling men on them about
whose politics there could be no question.
The former owners were furious when they
discovered who the actual purchaser of the farms
was. They were repeatedly warned from the
pulpits of the Dutch Reformed Church that De
Beers were buying the land, and they were begged
not to sell. Rhodes made himself responsible for
one-third of the purchase price and settlement of
the farms and De Beers for one-third, while Alfred
' Afrikander Bond — the South African Nationalist Association.
1898] DE BEERS 69
Beit put up the other third. The farms were,
of course, a good commercial investment, but a
lot of money was spent on them, and they were
extravagantly handled. T believe that they are
now, however, giving a return, and the fruit, jam,
and preserves, etc., from " Rhodes's fruit-farms "
are seen everywhere.
It was hoped that the votes of the employees at
the De Beers dynamite factory in the Stellen-
bosch Division would assist to win seats for that
district from the Bond. The factory was erected
at the cost of about a million, and here, too, a lot
of expense was incurred in buildings which were
on the style of architecture of Groote Schuur
and furnished with solid teak. It was a great
disappointment to find, however, when the first
election came along, that only a quota of the
employees who had been placed on the voters'
roll remained, the rest having been got rid of in
some mysterious way or removed to Kimberley,
and the cause was divined only when it was dis-
covered that one of the principal overseers was
a rank Bondsman !
Rhodes argued that De Beers took an enormous
amount of money out of the Cape Colony, and
should therefore be made to pay for it ; but it was
rather a horse of another colour when it was
proposed to impose a direct tax upon diamonds.
He also submitted to his co-directors that the
diamond mines could not last for ever, and that
De Beers should invest in other enterprises which
would outlast the mining industry. Needless to
say, Rhodes had no difficulty in making the
70 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
directors at Kimberley (the local board) see eye
to eye with him — he said it was to be so and
so, and so it was — but he experienced considerable
opposition to his methods from some of the
directors on the London Board, notably F. S.
Philipson-Stow, formerly a life governor; he, in
1897, moved a resolution at a meeting of directors
in London to the effect that the Board of
Directors should not launch the Company upon
a political campaign in South Africa or elsewhere
and appropriate its funds to carry out that object
in the manner proposed. He more particularly
objected to the way in which the expenditure of
considerable funds was entrusted to an individual
director with political ambition (Rhodes, of course)
and who wished to gratify that ambition under the
pretext of promoting the welfare of the share-
holders in mining ventures in distant parts of
Africa away from the Company's centre of action,
and in metals or ores with which the Company had
hitherto had nothing to do and for which there
was no real foundation nor necessity. In the past,
he said, when it was thought expedient to promote
the candidature of any member of the Company
for Parliamentary honours, the funds — so far as
he was concerned — were subscribed by the other
members of the Board privately, and no attempt
was made to convert the Company into a political
machine. Should it, he added, again be thought
necessary to give similar support to members of
the Board or political candidates having the
Company's interest at heart, who could not afford
to defray the expenses of a contested election.
1890] MINISTRY OF 1890 71
he was prepared, as formerly, to subscribe his
quota thereto.
Lord Rothschild, too, at this time, on behalf of
the French shareholders, lodged a protest against
the use of De Beers' funds for any purpose other
than the ordinary business of De Beers. " Our
business," he said, "is to get diamonds, and we
are not a philanthropic association." He objected
chiefly to the school grants. In spite of this,
Rhodes went merrily on devoting the funds to
what purpose he pleased, and when he met the
London Board made himself so unpleasant that
they were glad to approve of his actions.
In 1890, when Rhodes formed his Ministry of
himself, Merriman, Sauer, Sivewright, Rose-Innes,
and P. H. Faure, he was certainly diffident about
accepting office, as he felt that his real work lay
in the north. Then, again, there was a large
number of members on each side of the House
who did not like the idea of his having absolute
power in the north and his being at the same
time Premier of the Cape, not to speak of his
chairmanship of De Beers. He was associated
with the Bond, who had practically put him into
power, and at the same time his work in the north
gained him the sympathy of the rest of the House.
There was no opposition to speak of ; but in view
of Rhodes 's association with the Bond, the Pro-
gressive Association was formed, of which Sir T. E.
Fuller was chairman. It became a sort of local
Imperial Association to watch and guard against
the ascendancy of the Bond, whose domination
over Rhodes they feared. Later their functions
72 RHODES AND THE CAPE [cH. v
I
became more those of an electioneering committee]
of the whole party, and it formed the nucleus ol
the Imperial Party which put Jameson into power.
It had no backbone to speak of when it first^i
started, but after Rhodes's fall and he became^l
e natura their leader, it was a very different party,
containing such men as Sir Edgar Walton, Sir
Thomas Smartt, and Sir Henry Juta. Rhodes
certainly gave cause for alarm, as he would
pretend he did not care a damn about the Cape
Colony and was quite content with his north,
which, he said, was quite independent of Cape
ports and Cape railways in view of his railway
from Beira ; he even spoke of a union being
formed in the north and the Cape left to its
own devices. This from the Premier was rather
disconcerting, and he therefore gave an under-
taking that nothing he did would be incompatible
with his dual position as Premier and managing
director of the B.S.A. Company, and the thought
that he had broken faith in that matter in connec-
tion with the Raid caused him more distress than
perhaps anything, although Mr. Joseph Chamber-
lain found it incumbent on him to say later that
Rhodes's personal honour was not affected.
The Bond was virtually in power under Rhodes's
Premiership, though he chose his ministers as he
pleased. The Bond was not strong enough to
take office, and the late Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr
simply sat on the back benches and pulled the
strings for the Bond Party, and preferred to work
with Rhodes. They were the two ablest heads
in South Africa, and they were at one on a
1893] A CAPE UNIVERSITY 73
university scheme for the Cape — in fact, Rhodes
was always at one with him qua education.
John Hofmeyr (" Onze Jan ") had great ideas
and great ideals, and his pet idea was the estab-
lishment of a great South African university,
which is now, under union, in a fair way to
materialize. Hofmeyr favoured his own old college
at Stellenbosch as the chief centre of South
African learning.
In 1893 Merriman, Sauer, Rose-Innes, and Sir
James Sivewright resigned their portfolios on
account of Sivewright having given to a personal
friend, J. D. Logan, the contract for refreshment-
rooms on the Cape Government railways without
calling for tenders ; and Rhodes reconstructed his
Cabinet.
The new Ministry was composed of himself
as Prime Minister and Secretary for Native
Affairs ; Sir Gordon Sprigg, Treasurer-General ;
W. P. Schreiner, Attorney- General ; Sir John
Frost, Secretary for Agriculture ; and John Laing,
Secretary for Public Works and Railways.
Before forming this Ministry, Rhodes approached
the Chief Justice, Sir Henry (now Baron) de
Villiers and inquired whether the latter was
prepared to take the Premiership and form a
ministry. They had one or two interviews, and
Sir Henry expressed his willingness to undertake
the task, submitted the names of his proposed
ministers, and wrote that he would call on a
Sunday morning. He called, but Rhodes was not
in. He wrote next morning, and called again, only
to be again disappointed. The next day the names
74 RHODES AND THE CAPE [cH. v
of the new Cabinet were gazetted, with Rhodes
himself as Prime Minister. He never intended
that any one but he should form a Cabinet, but
merely wished to get the Chief Justice's ideas and
discover what colleagues he would select !
As to the Afrikander Bond, this was inaugurated
about 1885, and its objects summarized were the
preservation of South Africa as a solid nation
under its own flag.
Although the Bond leaders later declared that
the true purpose of the association was the pre-
servation of South Africa as a solid nation as an
integral part of the British Empire, it was, after
all, an association founded on the racial basis, as
its very name implies, and it became a very dan-
gerous instrument in the hands of unscrupulous poli-
ticians as soon as parties divided on racial lines — in
fact, its existence tended to defeat the very objects
towards which its leaders declared it was working.
Its official language was the Taal, its organ the
Dutch newspaper, " Ons I^and " (Our Country), and
its head J. H. Hofmeyr (" Onze Jan ").
The fact that certain branches of the Bond
expressed open rebellion during the Boer War,
however, must not in itself condemn the whole
Bond on an accusation of disloyalty. When
German Wilhelm congratulated Kruger in his
famous telegram on repelling Jameson, and applied
to the Portuguese to allow German marines to
land at Delagoa Bay, " Ons Land " severely took
him to task and informed him, in unmeasured
terms, that German interference was not required
nor sought in South Africa.
i893[ THE GLEN GREY ACT 75
Rhodes and Sir Thomas Smartt were both
members of the Bond at one time.
The Bond members found it necessary to make
strong protestations of loyalty during the War,
and in reply to an address at Worcester Lord
Milner said, " Loyal ? Of course you are loyal.
It would be most monstrous were you not loyal ! "
Rhodes's Glen Grey Act was perhaps one of
his finest pieces of legislation — the first frank at-
tempt to deal with the problem of native labour,
and is a real effort to make the natives work,
or, in his words, *'to recognize the dignity of
labour." One of the features of the Act, and
perhaps the most important, is the allotment of
land to natives under individual title, and is
admirably adapted to fulfil its purpose — i.e. to
make the native work. Under the Act all able-
bodied natives not owning allotments of land had
to pay an annual tax, provided they were not in
bona-fide employment. I think very little was
collected in the form of this tax, as those not
on allotments did not seek local employment to
earn the amount of the tax, but were recruited
for work on the Rand. The labour clause in the
Act Rhodes termed a " gentle stimulus."
By the principle of giving land to each family
of natives, under individual title, the men have
their own land, and they have to improve that
land, and the land having been so allotted a
large number have to go out and work, because
for some there would be no land at all. Whether
the application of such means meets with the
approval of the " faddist of Exeter Hall " or not
76 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
is beside the question, but from the point of view
of the man who, Hke Rhodes, wants to make
the native work, this legislation is highly efficient,
and mayhap the day is not far distant when its
application to all the native territories and native
reservations will bring about a solution of the
native-labour difficulty, and consequently of many
others by which we are beset.
It is now generally accepted that under the
federation towards which Rhodes was trying to
steer public inclination his policy was to secure
" Equal rights for all civilized men south of the
Zambesi." As a matter of fact, when Rhodes
used the phrase he employed the words " Equal
rights for every white man south of the Zambesi,"
and so he was correctly reported in ** The Eastern
Province Herald." A copy of the paper was
immediately sent to him by the South African
Political Association,^ and he was significantly
asked whether he was correctly reported. It must
be remembered that it was on the eve of a general
election, and the coloured vote in the Western
Province is no inconsiderable one, while the natives
of Tembuland and Aliwal North practically control
those constituencies ; and Rhodes therefore posted
back the paper, on the margin of which he wrote :
" My Motto is—
" Equal Rights for every civilized man south of
the Zambezi.
" What is a civilized man ? A man, whether
^ An organization of the coloured voters of Cape Colony. In Cape
Colony, as in Rhodesia, colour is no bar to the granting of the franchise
to natives who otherwise possess the necessary qualifications.
1 893] DELAGOA BAY 77
white or black, who has sufficient education to write
his name — has some property or works. In fact,
is not a loafer."
Between 1891 and 1893 Rhodes made an attempt
to acquire Delagoa Bay, the Portuguese port
which is the natural port for the Transvaal, as
Beira is for Rhodesia.
The bay might have been purchased for a song
at one time, but the opportunity was lost. Rhodes,
acting in conjunction with Sir James Sivewright,
and supported by Lord Rothschild, reopened
negotiations with the Portuguese Government in
Lisbon through Baron Merck, and that Govern-
ment was prepared to consider a proposal for
purchase of the bay, Portugal's finances being in
a very low state. The negotiations were very
near succeeding in 1893, the sum of £1,300,000
(the price asked by Portugal) having been offered,
when a new bidder appeared in the field, surmised
to be J. B. (Sir Joseph) Robinson, probably acting
on behalf of the South African RepubHc. The
Government at Lisbon, with the usual procrastina-
tion of the Portuguese, now began to shilly-shally,
and eventually Baron Merck withdrew from the ne-
gotiations in disgust. The whole fact of the matter
seems to be that the Government were always will-
ing to sell not only the port, but the whole of the
colony if they could, but were deterred by fear
of the people. The ordinary Portuguese is proud
of his country's former glory and history of * its
conquests oversea, to which the existence of the
colonies is witness, and the common people, albeit
they know that there is not a " miirei " {Ss\ ^d,)
78 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
in the Treasury, would be averse to parting with an
acre of land in the colonies won by Diaz and d' Albu-
querque, and the Government probably feared a
revolution on consenting to sell Delagoa Bay.^
The Portuguese East African possessions, as well
as their affairs in India and the East, are under
the administration at Goa, and all matters are
submitted to Lisbon through Goa. On Colonel
Machado taking office at Goa he was, in a short
term, much incensed at what he considered most
unjust treatment accorded to Portugal :
1. In respect to merchandise transhipped at
Bombay for Goa, on which import duties were
levied by the Government of India, notwith-
standing that no duties were levied on goods
going through Goanese territory to the Southern
Mahratta country ; and
2. In respect of prohibitive rates charged by the
South Mahratta Railway over the bit of line con-
necting their trunk-line with the West of India
Portuguese Guaranteed Railway, in order that
goods which would naturally find their outlet at
Goa should be sent over their long haul to Bombay.
He felt that these Portuguese goods should be
treated as if they were bonded at Bombay and
not taxed by the Government of India, and he
urged upon his Government a policy of retalia-
tion against England both in Indian and African
ports. Apart from Indian considerations the matter
was of great importance (1) in the interests of
^ To the common people of Portugal the names of Bartholomew
Diaz^ Tristan d'Acunha, and Alphonso d' Albuquerque are what Drake's,
Frobisher's, and Hawkins's are to British.
1 897] DELAGOA BAY 79
Rhodesia, and (2) in view of the position at
Delagoa Bay. The Customs Treaty between the
Indian Government and Portugal came to an
end in 1892, and was not renewed ; but in 1897
it was proposed that to meet the difficulties
negotiations for a new customs union be opened,
and it was suggested to the Foreign Office that
in addition the British Government might give
Portugal substantial financial assistance without
cost to England by guaranteeing the capital of the
West Indian Portuguese Railway, amounting to
£1,350,000 at 2J per cent.
Portugal was paying £73,000 per annum on
£1,150,000, being at the rate of 5 and 6 per cent.,
while, if guaranteed by Great Britain, they would
pay 2J per cent, on £1,350,000, or £33,750, a
saving of £39,250 per annum.
The security of the guarantee was to be the
customs receipts at Goa, payments for salt under
the treaty, and the revenues of Portugal itself to
make up any deficit. This, it was hoped, would
allay the feeling of irritation felt by the Portuguese
Government and cement Great Britain's friendship,
which appeared desirable in view of the early
expected announcement of the Berne award in
regard to Delagoa Bay.^
A similar policy was proposed in regard to
Delagoa Bay — the British to guarantee the sum
required to meet the Berne award and the con-
struction of harbour works at Delagoa Bay up to
' This was an adjudication on the claims of the Macmurdo family,
who demanded compensation for the forcible seizure by Portugal
of Macmurdo's railway, and the result of the arbitration was expected
in 1897.
80 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
a maximum of £3,500,000 at 2| per cent, thus
saving the Portuguese Government, without cost
to England, £122,500 per annum— the difference
between 2| per cent, and 6 per cent, which the
Portuguese Government would probably have to
pay. In this case also the revenue of the railway,
the customs, and the harbour receipts would be
hypothecated to the service of the debt. In
addition, conditions would be imposed which would
practically secure for England the administrative
position at Loren90 Marques.
It was also suggested that a customs union for
the East Indies and South Africa should be at
once arranged on the lines of the treaty between
India and Portugal of 1879, which worked in India
with such satisfactory results. Such, then, were
the proposals before the Foreign Office in 1897,
resulting merely in the modus vivendi as pre-
liminary treaty ; though it is possible that with
the advent of union of the southern states a three-
cornered customs union on the lines shadowed
may be established. An enormous amount of
British and South African capital is invested in
Loren90 Marques in w^harfage, piers, and in
vacant land abutting on the railway premises and
line.
In 1894 Rhodes "dealt with" the Pondos, over
whom Sigcau, the paramount chief, was losing
control. The Pondos are the most cruel of South
African tribes, and most superstitious, and there-
fore most witcli-doctoi^-YididQn. They probably
alone in South Africa understand torture as a fine
art. Rhodes visited Sigcau, and with very little
1895] I-OSS OF POLITICAL FRIENDS 81
trouble the territory was settled and annexed to
the Cape Colony.
After the Raid general topsy-turvydom existed
amongst the members of the Cape Parliament,
except that the solid phalanx of the Bond openly
sympathized with Kriiger, With the inevitable
result that the House divided on racial liries;
Schreiner (who did not stand again for Barkly
West, but for Malmesbury) and Merriman led the
Bond, and the Raid was referred to as a filibustering
expedition even by Merriman, who evidently forgot
that when the Mashonaland pioneers got to Mount
Hampden he wired to Rhodes to turn them loose
on the Portuguese Pungwe before the Germans
anticipated him.
After 1895 Rhodes felt keenly the loss of the
intimacy of a great many men who had been
friends and who had been at one with him in
many of his ideas, such as J. H. Hofmeyr, whose
ambition for a great teaching university so much
accorded with Rhodes's own ideas. Hofmeyr and
others kept very aloof, and Rhodes continually
taunted him with remaining behind the scenes and
pulling the strings, instead of coming out into the
open. He referred to him as the " mole of Camp
Street," a name bestowed on him by Merriman,
who said that one knew by the molehills that he
had been in the vicinity, but one did not see the
damage done by him beneath the surface.
Merriman did not at all like Rhodes giving him
away as the originator of the nickname. It
was different with W. P. Schreiner, as Rhodes
often asked why Schreiner did not come and
7
8^ RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
see him and meet him on a social if not poHtical
basis.
As to the Progressive Party, on Rhodes's retur:
after the Raid Commission he became at once th
leader of the party. Their leaders were not ver
stiff in the backbone, and many were poor-hearted
from Rhodes's standpoint, and must have roused in
him feelings akin to what he possessed in regard to
those of his countrymen whom he credited wit
" unctuous rectitude."
The positive childishness of the objection of th^
Party led by Sir T. Fuller and Arthur Douglass
to Jameson as a member of the House before he
had repented in sackcloth and ashes, must have
aroused his ire, and he never spoke more truly
than when he said the party needed him and not he
them. Jameson, in deference to their wishes, did
not stand for Port Elizabeth in 1898, but for
Kimberley in 1900, when he referred to them as
*' not very sturdy, but very prominent Progressives."
Had it not been for Rhodes, it is doubtful whether
they would have been a party at all, and whether
Sir Gordon Sprigg would have again occupied the
Treasury Bench.
After the general election of 1898, when Rhodes
was again returned for Barkly West with James
Hill, Sir Gordon Sprigg formed a ministry which
included Rose-Innes as Attorney-General. Rhodes
was consulted as to the selection of Rose-Innes,
and he laconically replied that he would " swallow
a mugwump if it would help the Governor."
Although Rhodes always had the idea of a
federation of the South African states and
i
d
n
o
1902] SUSPENSION OF THE CONSTITUTION 83
colonies before him, no practical steps towards
a federation or union were taken during his
lifetime.
His aim, moreover, was a federation and not a
union in the form which has since been established,
and it is doubtful whether he would have pledged
Rhodesia to enter a union constituted as it is.
However, with him it was merely a cherished ideal,
and in its consummation he had no part.
The last active political agitation at the Cape
that Rhodes engineered was the proposed tem-
porary suspension of the Constitution, during which
order might be restored out of the chaos that
existed owing to the war.
It was impossible for the Cape Government to
restore order, as apart from the question of finance
many of the members of the Cape Parliament were
in sympathy with the Republican forces, and
thousands of their constituents were in open
rebellion.
The steps taken by the Cape Government to
repress rebellion were hopelessly ineffective, and
a mass of debt was being piled up.
The only remedy appeared to be the handing
over of affairs to the Imperial Government until
peace and order were restored, and it was hoped
that a readjustment of constituencies could be
made under a new Constitution.
In 1902 Rhodes was lying ill at Muizenberg,
Sir Gordon Sprigg being Prime Minister. The
Bond was then in a majority, but while the war
continued did not attempt to turn the Progres-
sives out.
84 RHODES AND THE CAPE [cH. v
i
The idea of a temporary suspension of the.
Constitution originated with Lord Mibier, th
High Commissioner, but Joseph Orpen wrote
Rhodes and strongly advocated a petition being
presented to create an interregnum, during which
matters might be so readjusted as to secure fairer
representation for the towns and ports, which were
in the main progressive, and a curtaihnent of the
back-veld ^ Boer, who was ruling the country,
although representing a minority.
Rhodes enthusiastically embraced the idea, and
a petition was drafted and signed by all the
members of the Progressive Party, excepting the
members of the Ministry. Sir Gordon Sprigg was
approached, but he refused to sign, as did the other
ministers, with the exception of Dr. Smartt, who
immediately resigned his portfolio and was replaced
by Arthur Douglass. Sir Gordon repeated Pitt's
utterance, " I know that I am able to save the
country and that no one else can." This state-
ment was received with a certain amount of
hilarity.
Failing to get the signatures of a majority
of the members of the House, the petition was
shelved, but one result was to take the leadership
out of Sir Gordon Sprigg's hands and place it in
Dr. Jameson's. One of the effects was curious, as
one afternoon in the House of Assembly a resolu-
tion was moved by one of the Progressives, and on
the Speaker putting the question the " Ayes "
outshouted the " Noes," and a division was called
for — whereupon ensued the ridiculous spectacle of
^ JBflc/f-ve/rf— isolated country ; cf. Australia, "back-block."
I902] AN UNALTERED PURPOSE 85
the Prime Minister, with his four ministers, leaving
his own party and solemnly crossing the floor,
amid roars of laughter, to vote with the Opposition
against the motion proposed by one of his own
party ! This effort to secure a temporary suspen-
sion of the Constitution was long made use of by
the Bond Party and held up to constituencies as
an attempt to interfere with sacred constitutional
rights with about as much fairness as the lies
disseminated by the Liberals at Home anent the
cruelties practised on Chinamen at the Rand.
It was hoped at one time, and in fact expected
by many, that Rhodes would contest a constituency
in the Imperial Parliament in the Unionist cause ;
and it is quite probable that had his physical
strength held and his presence not been so neces-
sary to South Africa, as it was after 1895, he would
have sought a seat in the House of Commons,
where he would have had greater scope for further-
ing his main idea of a United Empire.
From the time that he made the remarkable
will leaving his wealth for the extension of the
British Empire, his purpose never altered — to
devote his life to the construction of a world-
wide Empire, whose scattered portions should be
closely knit by common ties of sentiment and
mutual interest. But as affairs eventuated he
had to devote himself to the smaller task of
working first for the federation of the colonies
and states ^ of South Africa, the completion of
which he did not even live to see. While he
was a Unionist in politics (Unionism he regarded
as synonymous with Imperialism), for the con-
86 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch
I
summation of his ideal of a Federated Empire
he considered that a form of Home Rule was
necessary in Ireland. He regarded a settlement
with Ireland as the key of the federal system — a
step towards perfect Home Rule for every part of
the Empire, but — "with control from Westminster."
It was by Rochfort Maguire and Swift MacNeill
that a meeting was arranged between Parnell and
Rhodes, when the latter and the late W. E.
Gladstone were at one qua the latter 's Home Rule
policy. Rhodes saw that a form of Home Rule
in Ireland could be used as a stepping-stone to
Imperial federation, and he had discussed the
matter with Gladstone, who was favourably
impressed by Rhodes's arguments on his idea for
an Imperial council or parliament at Westminster
in which the colonies would have representation.
It was a step towards the welding into a united
whole of the different units of the Empire. Ireland
he was regarding as one of the units — a separate
dominion, as Canada and Australia are to-day.
Ireland was to have its parliament, but subject to
control from Westminster, as are the parliaments
of the Over-Sea Dominions — practically respon-
sible government for Ireland. Parnell gave
Rhodes his views, and declared that he could come
to terms with Gladstone, and Rhodes certainly
dissuaded him from the policy of disruption.
Rhodes then made a subscription of £10,000 to
the funds of the Irish Party, money being badly
needed if the agitation in favour of flome Rule
was to be continued. Parnell promised to refrain
from violent speeches and exhortations, but in
1 893] IKISH HOME RULE 87
every way in his power to bring his followers
to reasonable consideration of their proposed
representation.
The Irish Nationalist leader, however, not long
afterwards made an exceedingly bitter speech, and
exhorted the NationaHsts to " use any means " to
attain their object. He justified an appeal to arms,
and preached the Jesuitical doctrine of the end
justifying the means. Later on, however, he
apologized to Rhodes, and said he had spoken in
the heat of the moment and without thinking.
The Imperial Parliament, through the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, has to-day the right of
veto, seldom it is true exercised, over the laws
passed by colonial legislatures, and the Imperial
Parliament certainly can frame legislation binding
the colonies ; but in practice this Imperial control
over local executives without representation is
deemed impossible. The difference as to Ireland
was that it is part of the United Kingdom, and
the Over-Sea Dominions would only really be
incorporated in the Union of Empire upon their
obtaining representation in the Imperial Parlia-
ment. The federation Rhodes had in view would
start with Ireland, already a part of the United
Kingdom, as the first of the dominions which
would afterwards form the units of a larger world-
wide union, and which would gradually be incor-
porated therein. But for the purpose of this
federation he deemed it necessary that Ireland
should revert to the position she might have held
had she never become a portion of the United
Kingdom, and she would have her responsible
88 RHODES AND THE CAPE [ch. v
parliament and executive under control of th(
Imperial Parliament at Westminster, in which sh<
was to have representation, as the other Over-Sej
Dominions w^ere to have as they qualified foi
admission into the Imperial Federation.
Another subscription for political purposes, am
incidentally also for the purpose of furthering th<
scheme of Imperial federation, was made b;
Rhodes, and that was a gift of £5,000 to the fun(
of the Liberal Party through Schnadhorst.
A rumour was afterwards circulated that Rhodes
had " bought " the Liberal Party, and in a speed
Campbell-Bannerman stigmatized the statement
that Rhodes had contributed to the funds of th<
party as *' a lie." The correspondence was then
published, proving that the gift had been made and
that the condition upon which it was granted was
that the pohcy of the party should not be to
" scuttle out of Egypt." The abandonment of
Egypt meant everything to Rhodes's trans-
continental schemes, and he was afraid of the
withdrawal from Egypt, just as the Liberal Party,
under Gladstone's leadership, had w^eakly con-
cluded a dishonourable peace with the Boers in
1881, and dealt the death-blow to South African
Britishers' belief in the faith of English statesmen.
In making this donation to the funds of the
Liberal Party, he also stipulated that any scheme
of Home Rule for Ireland should include repre-
sentation at Westminster. Otherwise, as he
brusquely said, he " wanted his money back." He
had unspeakable contempt for the Nonconformist
Radical, whom he credited with " unctuous recti-
1 897] COLONIAL MANUFACTURES 89
tude," and he had good reason to be apprehensive,
having in mind :
L The refusal to annex Damaraland, which,
as German South- West Africa, is turning out one
of the most highly mineralized areas in Africa,,
besides being a superb cattle country, some
300,000 square miles in extent.
2. The surrender to the Boers in 1881.
3. How nearly Bechuanaland was absorbed by
the Transvaal in 1883-4. Had Kruger been
allowed peaceful possession of Bechuanaland the
way to the north was blocked, and in a very
short while Matabeleland and Mashonaland (now
Rhodesia) would have been Transvaal territory.
4. The sacrifice of Charles Gordon at Khartoum
and the seriously suggested evacuation of Egypt
and Uganda.
5. The assistance refused to Sir Harry Johnston
in Central Africa, which, but for Rhodes, would
have resulted in the loss of British Central Africa
and probably Uganda.
While Rhodes never said much on the subject
of Tariff Reform, as it did not enter much into the
scope of his work, he held that any scheme of
reform should include colonial preference, and
maintained that a system of reciprocity would do
much to further inter-dominion trade. He was
not greatly in favour of the establishment of
colonial industries, at all events in South Africa,
especially of what he called ** bastard industries "
— the manufacture from locally produced raw
material of articles which are manufactured in the
United Kingdom for export. He rather favoured
90 RHODES AND THE CAPE [cH. v
the increase of production in the colonies of the
raw material which would be exported to Englam
and exchanged for the manufactured article. H(
said that every blanket made in the Cape Colom
meant less work for the factory hands in Yorkshire
One industry he seriously hoped to establish ii
South Africa, however, was diamond-cutting. He
did think that it was absurd that diamonds should
have to be sent to Holland for cutting, but I
do not think he ever took any active steps to
establish the industry in South Africa.
As to a successor to Rhodes in South Africa,
there was only one Rhodes, and his shoes cannot be
filled. Sir Starr Jameson has the loyal support of the
Imperialists at the Cape and throughout the Union,
but he does not fill the place Rhodes occupied.
Sir Abe Bailey had at one time an idea that he
was destined to succeed Rhodes, and in many ways
he reminded one of him. He contested and won
Rhodes's old seat (Barkly West), and purchased
the house at Muizenberg that Rhodes had com-
menced to build but left unfinished.
He became one of the Progressive Whips, but
on the formation of the Jameson Ministry he
resigned his seat and returned to the Transvaal,
and an amusing story is told of his meeting with
Sammie Marks there.
" Aha," the latter is reported to have said, " my
dear Abe : it may be a very natural idea to you
that the mantle of Rhodes has descended upon
your shoulders, but I, having had some experience
of second-hand clothing, candidly tell you the
mantle won't fit."
Ji
CHAPTER VI
RHODES AND THE PUBLIC
In Rhodesia Rhodes was looked upon as "the
Father of the People," to whom every one brought
his or her troubles in the sure hope of relief of
some sort. Did any one want a start in business or
in farming, did he require a span of oxen or a disc
plough, had he lost his cattle through disease, his
crops through locusts, he usually complacently
waited until he could get at " the Old Man."
" Wait until the Old Man comes," was the balm
administered to the wounded spirit. If a man had
a grievance against the Chartered Company, the
railway, there was always a final appeal to Caesar.
Jourdan says that in Rhodesia Rhodes was as-
sailed constantly by a "crowd of beggars." I prefer
not to employ the word, which is hardly applicable
to the Rhodesian of those days. They were not
beggars in the ordinary sense of the term. Those
who appealed to him were in the main men who had
fought for the country, had settled there, and usually
had real grievances in the shape of cattle, crops,
and goods lost during the Rebellion, by insufficient
police protection, or deemed that they had received
inadequate compensation from the Chartered Com-
91
92 RHODES AND THE PUBLIC [ch. vi
pany. Certainly there were numerous others whi
made for Rhodes on the ofF-chance of gettinj
something — anything — but these were easily deall
with. It was seldom, however, that a man pai<
Rhodes an altogether disinterested visit, and h<
naturally dropped into his well-known habit ol
greeting a visitor with, " Well, and what do you
want ? " On one occasion at Bulawayo one of his
brothers called on him and was greeted with, " And
what do you want ? " " None of your damned
money, anyway ! " was the sturdy reply. " Well,"
replied Rhodes, turning away, "it is the first time
in your life that you didn't." On some occasions
he would, however, become stubborn and refuse
to listen to anybody. One case in particular occurs
to my mind of a woman who came to see him in
Bulawayo, and said that she and her husband, who
was ill, were stranded and starving, since they had
been brought up by some man to start a business
under misrepresentation. The woman completely
broke down, but Rhodes would not do anything
for them, and marched out of the room. I felt that
it was a genuine case, and gave her £40 out of my
own pocket, and they are to-day conducting a
flourishing business in Bulawayo. Rhodes came in
to me a few days later, and said, " I hope you did
something for that poor woman the other day ? "
I told him what I had done, and he immediately
wrote out a cheque for the amount. Rhodes,
as a rule, lent a ready ear to applicants for
assistance, and during the period from the middle
of June to the end of October, 1897, I estimated
that he had spent in assisting people money at
1897] INDISCRIMINATE PHILANTHROPY 93
the rate of £100 a day ; then there must be
taken into account the aid he gave to the weaker
vessels who were stranded and helped to get out
of the country.
He took a personal interest in the work indi-
viduals were carrying on in various parts of Rho-
desia, and any man who was likely to make a good
settler always received every encouragement from
him.
He often provided men with the funds needed
to go off on a holiday.
There was one such case where a Dutchman got
a cheque from him to go down country for a change,
and he went to Kimberley, but did not return.
Some time afterwards he went to Rhodes in
Kimberley in distress and asked for assistance.
Rhodes, having had a talk to him, said, " You left
my country and never went back, and yet come
and ask me for help " ; then, turning to Jourdan, he
went on, " I don't think it is a deserving case, but
for his damned cheek tell Pickering (secretary of
De Beers) to send him £100."
He was, as all rich men are, inundated with
begging letters from all parts of the world. A
young woman would write for a sum of money to
get married on, a man would ask for a lump sum
for the naive reason that he had never possessed so
much in his life (nor was likely to), and wanted to
experience the sensation. Applications for appoint-
ments in scores ; and the wastepaper-basket fondly
embraced copies of thousands of testimonials,
avouching their owners to be possessed of every
qualification and virtue on earth, excepting, perhaps.
94 RHODES AND THE PUBLIC [ch. vi
modesty. When in England, nearly every friend
or acquaintance had a young man in whom he was
interested, who wanted to go to Rhodesia, and
these were usually disposed of by being sent out to
the tender mercies of the Regimental Sergeant-
Major of the B.S.A. Police. Many of these
carried out personal letters from Mr. Rhodes some-
thing as follows:
" Dear
" I send you So-and-so. He is a good
cricketer and ought to make a good policeman. ..."
Rhodes was often sadly at fault in selecting his
subjects for assistance, and his secretary for the time
being would make all inquiries he could about the
probable recipient of a cheque, and recommend
'* the case " or not according to the information he
gathered.
In one instance at Salisbury he was applied to
for a span of oxen by a young Boer who had
settled in the country, he having lost his cattle by
rinderpest. Jack Grimmer and I made inquiries,
and ascertained that the man had never possessed
any cattle ; and we strongly urged Rhodes to give
him nothing. Rhodes, however, preferred using
his own judgment, and the Boer went off with a
cheque for £400. The next day there was a race
meeting ; and during the afternoon Grimmer and
I, to our huge delight, found the man, lying dead
drunk under a wagon. We got Rhodes to walk
round past the wagon, and Grimmer then pointed
him out, saying, ** There's your £400 Dutchman."
1898] APPLICATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE 95
Rhodes didri't say a word, but hurried off and never
mentioned the matter again.
With their usual diplomacy, letters for assistance
from Dutchmen nearly always contained the excuse
that they or their friends were anxious to trek to
Rhodesia ; others, more illiterate, were masses of
fulsome flattery. The following are very fair
specimens of hundreds of similar communications.
I preserve the original spelling and punctuation,
omitting only the names and addresses :
. . . Transvaal.
Januwary
8.1.98
My Lard Mr. C. Rhodes,
Der Sir,
Jas a few lins to ask u far hilp as ther is
sovel fammars in the Transvaal hu wantet to come
up to Maussonnu Land, but dey ar a bit short of
monney the most of them ar all my fammely and
frinds so tha ask me to ask Mr Rhodes fo some
monney to come up witch if i can get it there wil
be now les then 70 to 80 fammelys hu will come at
wance if tha con git some monney tha ask me to
right them all a bout the country and so i did and
now tha ar all made to come at wance affer tha
got my letter and rood to me to try Mr Rhodes
for monney thay wel return it a gane to Mr
Rhodes as soune is tha got salel done so if Mr
Rhodes con help witch monney i shall bring them
in as fammars tha should not trowbil but tha all
hat and harvey lost witch the catel sick nes hope
on return
Yours struly
the Peple wel bevery tank foul to Mr Rhodes if u
con hulp them so well i. My adras . . .
96 RHODES AND THE PUBLIC [cH. vi
Cape Colony
25.1.98
The Honourable C. J. Rhodes
Dear Sir,
The drought and rinderpest have made a
poor man of me. This time last year I was well
off in cattle but now out of a big drove of cattle
I have but five oxen left and 2 cows and as 1
have heard that you are very generous and rich I
thought I would ask you to help me till I can get
on my feet again. I am an agriculturist no crop
this season hard up. If you could lend me from
£50 to £100 fifty to one Hundred pounds for a year
it would set me up as I wish to trek to Matabele-
land as soon as possible and have not oxen enough.
Where is the best part for Agriculture. Hoping
you will not refuse me this small favour (small to
you)
I remain
Yours respectfully,
P.S. Please send money as quickly as possible
and oblige.
He was constantly being asked to be godfather,
and as a consent was almost invariably sent the
number of his godchildren must be legion. These
requests came not only from Britishers, but Boers
as well, from all parts of South Africa.
A budding author on one occasion wrote to
Rhodes and informed him that he intended
including him as one of the characters in a novel
he was writing, and sent him a copy of some pages
of dialogue, and he asked for Rhodes's approval of
the words he put into his mouth. He added a
1898] STRAY LETTERS 97
postscript to the effect that it was immaterial if
Rhodes disapproved, as he intended publishing
the work as it was in any case. The waste-
paper-basket could tell the rest of the tale ; but
whether the novel ever saw the light of day I
cannot tell.
A young Oxford undergraduate used to write to
him — mainly about doings at Oxford ; but Rhodes
tired of these letters after a while, as he did of the
letters of a girl who regularly wrote to him, though
he read her first with interest. She never gave
any name or address, and she simply wrote bright,
chatty letters which she said she sent for the mere
pleasure of doing so.
It was only natural that Rhodes should come to
look upon a gift of money as in all cases an
acceptable reward for services rendered, and the
means of recompense to be in his cheque-book.
He never expected any one to do anything for
nothing. One man, however, a Mr. Roos, had
done some little extra work for him while he was
Prime Minister, and to him Rhodes sent a cheque
for £10. Roos, however, returned the cheque,
saying that what he had done was not for the sake
of money.
Rhodes's correspondence was naturally volu-
minous, as, in addition to his political work, even
when out of office, he was Managing Director of
the B.S.A. Company, Managing Director and
Chairman of De Beers and of the Consolidated
Gold Fields, and of the Mashonaland and Bechuana-
land Railways and the African Trans- Continental
Telegraph Company. Then there were the affairs
8
98 RHODES AND THE PUBLIC [ch. vi
of his various farms and all manner of private
correspondence.
I don't suppose he saw one-tenth of the corre-
spondence addressed to him. His secretary opened
everything, no matter how " private " or ** con-
fidential " they were marked. Letters would often
arrive marked " Strictly private — for Mr. Rhodes
alone," or " Not to be opened by the secretary," but
these were all dealt with with the others.
His correspondence was bulky, but reduced to
surprisingly small dimensions when it reached him.
A number of letters went straight to the waste-
paper-basket ; others I answered straight off, and
a few were given to him as opportunity occurred.
Some of these he would write short replies to
himself, and the others were either not replied to
at all or else he would dictate answers — either by
telegram or by letter.
Of those letters which I thought should be
shown to him, I used to keep a list with a precis
of the contents, so that he could glance over it in
a minimum of time. Often the sender of a letter
would complain, on meeting him, that he had
received no reply to his letter, and Rhodes would
nonchalantly say, " Oh, I don't remember having
seen it. My secretary probably never showed it
to me." A reply was probably not sent for very
good reasons, but in this way the secretary earned
many a hard word and angry look. Sometimes he
has sent a carefully worded telegram in my name
and not his own when a little temporization was
necessary ; and when matters were settled, if things
had not gone quite smoothly, he would disclaim all
1898] HIS CORRESPONDENCE 99
knowledge of the telegram, and promptly blow me
up for acting on my own responsibility. He had
a habit, too, of hiding away letters ; but he often put
them away so safely that he could not find them
again. For instance, he would put a letter in a
book in the library or in a vase in the drawing-
room. Not long before his death he received an
important letter from the High Commissioner,
which he put in a jar in the library, and there was
a great search for it after his death.
The major portion of his important letters or
telegrams were dealt with by wire, and he would
dictate telegram after telegram. He was quite
easy to follow in longhand, although he used to
say his secretary should know shorthand. Jourdan
and Palk were, I think, the only ones who knew
it. As to letters, he wrote more or less as he
spoke, and used to dash off short notes. When a
letter was taken down word for word as he dictated
it, it was full of tautology and redundancies, especi-
ally if he wanted to emphasize a point. When
dictating a letter or memorandum, he would walk
up and down, his hands clasped behind his back or
stuck inside his trousers, and he would wander into
the next room, or even beyond, and one would
have to strain one's ears to catch what he was
saying. Personally, I never attempted to take
down his actual words, but made notes of what he
was saying, and then wrote the letter, or whatever
it was. The dictation of a letter often took him
much longer than it should take the ordinary man,
as it was all repetition. Having got the main
points, I used to sit and pretend to take notes, just
100 RHODES AND THE PUBLIC [ch. vi
saying, " Yes, sir," when he asked " Have you got
that ? " After dictating a long jumble, in which
he repeated himself over and over again, he would
say, " Now read that." I would reply that I
would write it out first, and I must say that he
very seldom made any correction. If he did, it was
merely to add a postscript in which he repeated
half of what he had already said, and sometimes
made the postscript longer than the letter itself.
On one occasion, in 1901, he dictated a letter to
me while he was still in bed, and then said, " Now
read that." I had only taken a few notes, and
smiHngly said, " I must go and put it into decent
English first." He just gave his little whine and
rolled over in bed. I brought him the letter later
on, and he said, " I think that will do. That will
do very well." I heard him speak of it a day or
two after, and he said, " Le Sueur says I can't
write Enghsh."
All his private letters were written by hand and
many official ones. He never had a typewriter in
his house. The bulk of his official correspondence
was done in the offices of the Chartered Company
and De Beers, and for this typewriters were used.
When on the veld, we were often away from post-
offices for weeks at a time, and then a mail would
turn up — a muid ^ sack crammed with letters ; or on
reaching a telegraph- station a mass of telegrams,
some of them pages in length, would be handed
to me. I have known him receive a big batch of
telegrams, and, after reading them over two or
three times, retire to his wagonette, or wherever
* Wheat measure. Three bushels go to the muid.
1898] POWERS OF MEMQRY: fi'Ol;
he was sleeping, and early in the morning start
dictating replies, and, without looking at the wires
again, answer every point in every one of them,
without missing one.
He had a wonderful memory — especially for
figures. For instance, he would receive a state-
ment of his holdings from Messrs. Wernher, Beit
& Co., and run through a list of a hundred or so
stocks, then correct it. " No, this is wrong," he'd
say ; " I have only 3,090 of these, not 3,390— So-
and-so had 300," and so on with every stock on
the list.
CHAPTER VII
RHODES AND THE NORTH
The first step towards the acquisition of the north
may be called the formation of the Rudd-Rhodes
Syndicate, as it was known. Alfred Beit was a
member of it, and Messrs. Rudd, Rochfort Maguire,
and F. R. ("Matabele") Thompson were appointed
delegates to obtain a concession from Lo Bengula,
son of " Umziligazi," ^ king of the Matabele.
Umziligazi was a pure Zulu, and was driven out
of Zululand by Tshaka, the uncle of Cetywayo,
who was the father of Dinizulu. He made his
way with his impis (regiments) through the Marico
District of the Transvaal, having several encounters
with the Boers, to Bechuanaland, where he soundly
hammered Khama, beloved of missionaries and
tea-drinking old ladies and so on, to what is now
Bulawayo. ^ From here he started raiding east
and west and south and north — south and west
as far as Palapye (Khama's Town), south and east
as far as Gazaland (Gungunhana), Manicaland
and Umtali (M'tasa's), and north as far as the
Zambesi.
* Called by the Boers Moselikatze, and meaning "the Trail of
Blood."
* Gubulawayo — "the Place of Slaughter."
102
I888J AN ILL-FATED IMPI 103
A large impi was sent to the Zambesi River and
Victoria Falls under Babyan, an induna (chief),
who was an envoy to the late Queen Victoria and
a great favourite of Rhodes's. The impi reached
the river, and the local tribes offered to ferry them
across. Some they conveyed to the opposite
shore, but the majority were landed on the islands,
the canoes returning for others. When the larger
portion of the impi had been left on the islands,
the canoes drew off, the Matabele being abandoned
to their fate. Numbers were drowned, died of
starvation, or were devoured by crocodiles, and only
a small remnant returned to Bulawayo. Those
who reached the northern bank of the river founded
the Angoni nation, who still exhibit some traces
of their warlike descent.
The women and girls captured in the Matabele
raids were taken as wives by the Matabele warriors,
but for many years Lo Bengula was very strict
as to intermarriage. For instance, the Kumalo
(Umziligazi's patronymic) were of royal blood, and
could only marry in the Kumalo class or with the
king's consent.
Then the Abenthla, or descendants of the true
Zulus and Swazis, could only marry in their own
class ; and after these came the Amaholi, or slaves,
who were also divided into three classes. Umzili-
gazi was succeeded by his son, Lo Bengula, and
the territory under his sway was enormous. He
ruled his people with an iron hand, and his name
was feared from the Limpopo to the Zambesi.
Whilst he dealt out death with an unsparing
hand, only one white man is known to have been
104 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
killed by his orders, although there was quite a
number at various times at Bulawayo — such as
Colenbrander, Sam Edwards, Selous, Fairbairn,
and Dawson.
Lo Bengula was once asked why he punished
every offence with death, and he replied, " What
else am I to do ? They understand death, and I
can't lock them up as you white people do in
gaols. 1 have no gaols, nor the trouble of looking
after them."
The Matabele nation settled in the territory
now known as Matabeleland, which had its
boundary at the Shangani River, and was governed
by Lo Bengula through indunas, who had districts
placed under their jurisdiction.
Mashonaland was under tribute to Lo Bengula,
but the inhabitants were not members of the
Matabele nation, and the territory was really only
a happy hunting-ground for Matabele raiders.
There was no one ruler in Mashonaland, but a
number of tribes, each under a small chief. Tribes
are found a few miles apart, having distinct customs,
manners, and language.
Months were spent at Bulawayo by Rudd,
Maguire, and " Matabele " Thompson " bongaing "
to Lo Bengula, from whom they finally obtained
a concession for the mineral rights over the whole
of his dominions, with the exception of the Tati
Concession — a tract south of Bulawayo, dividing
the territories of Lo Bengula and Khama.
The young Matabele warriors got rather im-
patient of the prolonged stay of the concession-
hunters, and " Matabele " Thompson, on his return
1 888] MATABELE CONCESSIONS 105
journey, had to fly for his Ufe, and nearly perished
of thirst.
In November 1888 the British South Africa
Company was incorporated by Royal Charter,
and preparations were made for an expedition of
occupation. In May 1890 the Mashonaland expe-
dition started under the guidance of F. C. Selous,
and effected a peaceful occupation of Mashona-
land, and erected their fort on the kopje over-
looking the present town of Salisbury. The
township of Victoria was established near the
Zimbabye ruins, and for a time was the most
important centre.
Other concessions, such as those granted by Lo
Bengula to A. E. Maund, Renny-Tailyour, and
Edward Lippert were purchased for what they
were worth. The most important of these was
perhaps the concession granted in November 1891
to Lippert, which conferred on the concessionaire
for the term of one hundred years the sole and
exclusive right of laying out, granting, or leasing
farms, townships, building-plots, etc. ; in fact,
surface rights generally.
The document conveys no right of transfer, but
the concession was purchased by the British South
Africa Company.
While the company was purchasing every
northern concession which seemed to have the
shadow of genuineness, a concession in Gazaland
was offered to Rhodes for £20,000.
He offered £10,000 in cash for it, but the owner
refused this, and Rhodes gave him a week in
which to make up his mind. The concessionaire
106 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
then went off, and hawked the concession, but
met with no buyers.
He then, after the lapse of a fortnight, returned
to Rhodes, and said he was prepared to accept
£15,000 for his concession.
" What concession ? " asked Rhodes.
"The one you offered me £10,000 for," he
repHed.
" I know of no offer," answered Rhodes.
" Why," the concessionaire said, " you gave me
until a week ago to decide."
" Ah, yes," Rhodes replied, " but that was a
week ago. Now I am not a buyer."
"Well, you may have it for £5,000," went on
the disappointed man.
" No, no," Rhodes said, " I don't want it. Good
afternoon."
A concession was also obtained from M'tasa,
the most important chief in Manicaland, who had
his kraal on a big mountain near where Umtali
now stands.
Half a mile from the mountain it is impossible
to see a hut, so hidden are they amongst the rocks,
yet M'tasa a few years ago paid hut-tax on over
four hundred huts.
The whole of Manicaland was claimed by the
Portuguese, and in 1890 Forbes, with a few pohce
on a visit to M'tasa's kraal, found there a Portu-
guese force under Baron de Rezende, the com-
mandant at Ma^equece. Accompanying him
were a Portuguese, d'Andrade, and a Goanese,
Gouveia.
Forbes arrested the trio, Baron de Rezende
1891] KRUGER AND GERMANY 107
being sent back to Ma^equece and the two others
to Cape Town.
A commission was later on appointed to de-
limit the boundary, and under its award the
border was fixed at Umtali, all the low country-
falling to the Portuguese, and the highlands, in-
cluding M'tasa, being included in the territory of
the British South Africa Company.
A great deal has been written and said about
an intrigue between Kruger and Germany in con-
nection with northern expansion, and it has been
stated that when the concession was obtained from
Lo Bengula envoys sent by Kruger and Leyds
were actually on their way up to Bulawayo ; but
Kruger always gave this an emphatic denial, his
words being, " Ik vertrouw de Engelsche min
maar ik vertrouw de Deutzers tien maal minder"
(" I trust the English but little, but I trust the
Germans ten times less "). Lo Bengula had, how-
ever, been visited by an envoy from Kruger, and
a German also started for Bulawayo, but never
reached the kraal.
The expedition, having reached Salisbury, now
metaphorically beat their swords into, not plough-
shares, but picks and shovels for prospecting, as
the discovery of gold was the first object of all.
The land was, however, apportioned out in farms,
and after the column came a number with the
intention of settling down. Of such was Laurence
van der Byl, who brought up about eighteen
young South Africans, and settled on Laurence-
dale, between Salisbury and UmtaU. His grave
now marks the spot, and although the land is
108 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
being farmed I do not think that any of his party-
remain in Rhodesia.
In 1891 the late Lord Randolph Churchill made
a tour of the country, and wrote some glowing
articles on its possibilities.
With Rhodes, on his first visit to the country
that now bears his name, were two Dutch farmers,
members of the Bond and of the House of
Assembly of the Cape — Messrs. De Waal and
Venter. De Waal afterwards " ratted " from the
Bond and followed Rhodes. He stuck closely to
Rhodes, but when the latter was dying, and De
Waal was unable to see him because he was too ill,
he was very much annoyed, and said to me that
Rhodes had promised him a number of Charter
shares which he never got, and added that had
he known " the way in which he was going to be
treated he would better have known how to act."
I think he exemplified what Rhodes meant when
he referred to my countrymen " and the eye to
the main chance." It was on his trip with De
Waal that Rhodes shot the only thing in the way
of big game he ever did, i.e, a quagga (zebra), and
he afterwards said he hated himself for having
shot it, and would never shoot another. He used
to tell a story, too, which De Waal repeats in his
book, of having early one morning walked in his
pyjamas a short distance into the veld, and a lion
suddenly roaring close beside him. He immediately
fled for his life, and came panting up to the wagon
with his pyjama trousers down and trailing round
his feet !
Dr. Jameson was selected by Rhodes to ad-
1 893] FERREIRA'S RAID 109
minister the New Country ; and he could not have
chosen better, for the situation required quaUties
which "the Doctor," as he was affectionately
called, possessed in a high degree — tact, perse-
verance, confidence, and indomitable courage.
Immediately the pioneers had entered the country
a raid was made upon it by the Boers, under one
Colonel Ferreira, and Jameson set off to meet him
at Rhodes's Drift, on the Limpopo. Ferreira tried
bluster at first, but came to reason when a maxim
was turned on the river, and its effects could be
marked. The Boers were, however, invited to
come in under shelter of the Chartered Company,
and allowed to settle at and around Enkeldoorn,
where they bid fair to establish a useful com-
munity.
The Matabele War of 1893
The occupation of Mashonaland by the pioneers
did not have much effect on the Matabele warriors
as a show of force, and I think they rather looked
on the new occupiers of the territory as under
tribute, as the Mashonas were. At all events,
they continued their marauding expeditions, and
finally waxed so bold as to slaughter a number
of Mashonas who were working for the white
settlers. A strong remonstrance was sent to Lo
Bengula by Dr. Jameson in 1893, when the position
had become intolerable. He returned the usual
reply of not being able to keep his young bloods
in hand, and it was finally resolved to march
on Bulawayo. After having communicated with
110 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
Rhodes, and the famous messages ^ regarding the
reference to Luke xiv. 31 having passed, Jameson
set off with some 500 men, hotchkiss-guns, and
maxims for Bulawayo, following the watershed.
When one compares the result of the German
operations in South- West Africa, where thousands
of trained soldiers were unable to deal with a
comparative handful of degenerate Hottentots, it
strikes one as little short of miraculous that this
little band of amateurs was not entirely extermi-
nated on their advance against a nation of 20,000
warriors, to whom war and bloodshed were as the
breath of their nostrils.
Certainly great fears were entertained for them
until they had reached the open country beyond
the Somabula forest near Shangani, and it is a
mystery how the Matabele failed to rush them with
the assegai ^ while they were passing through the
thick forest, where their weapons of precision would
have given them little or no advantage. They
came of the same race by whom the 24th regiment
was cut up at Isandhlwana in 1879.
Major Forbes was in command of the troops, who
had several engagements, the most severe being at
Bembezi, about twenty miles from Bulawayo,
where two whites, Arthur Gary and Siebert, were
killed and who were buried at the spot by Bishop
* On hearing from Jameson, Rhodes wired, " Read Luke xiv. 31 "
C Or what king, going to war against another king, sitteth not down
first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him
that Cometh against him with twenty thousand ? "). Jameson's reply
was, '' All right : have read Luke xiv. 31."
' Assegai — spear, used by the Zulus and Matabele for stabbing at
close quarters— by other tribes for throwing. They can throw them
about 150 yards.
1893] WILSON'S DEATH 111
Knight- Bruce. Dr. Jameson pushed on ahead to
Bulawayo, which he and his body-servant, GarUck,
were the first to reach. They found the town in
flames. Shortly afterwards they were joined by
Rhodes, who had followed the column. Rhodes
used to tell a story of his journey up, and said he
had met some Indians who were on their way down
country. He asked if they were not going to
settle in the country. They replied, ** Oh, yes ;
but the white men are at war with the natives
now ; but in the end the whites are sure to win,
and then, when it is all over, we are coming back."
Lo Bengula had fled towards the north, and
Forbes and his column set off in pursuit. Lo
Bengula now wished to parley, and sent back a
conciliatory present of £2,000 ; but this was
received by two scouts, Wilson and Daniels, who
stole and hid the amount. Getting no reply, the
harassed king continued his flight. He crossed the
Shangani some sixty miles north of Bulawayo, and
Major Alan Wilson, with thirty-two men, crossed
in hot pursuit of him. One of the natives who
was with Lo Bengula afterwards told me that Lo
Bengula at this time was very ill, and consumed
quantities of muti (medicine). The Shangani now
came down in flood, and Wilson and his party
were cut off* from the main body. They were then
attacked by the crack Imbezu and Ingubu regi-
ments, under Lo Bengula's chief fighting induna,
M'tyana, a true-blooded Zulu who had come from
Zululand with Umziligazi, and there the grim
tragedy was enacted which brought undying
honour to the names of Alan Wilson and those
112 RHODES AND THE NORTH [cH. vii
who died with him. Sir Thomas Fuller says they
died rather than desert wounded comrades. This
was not so. They were cut off by the swollen
Shangani River, and surrounded by thousands of
some of the finest native fighters in Africa, and
for them there was no escape, even had they wished
it. Their firing was plainly heard by Forbes's
column, but he could render them no assistance,
as, in addition to the river being impassable, he was
himself fiercely attacked. He was so hard pressed
that his men were reduced to eating their horses,
and he at length had to retire, leaving his maxims,
but carrying away the breech-blocks. His column
came straggling in to where Gwelo now stands for
two days. The natives who are likely to know do
not care to speak of Wilson's last stand ; one rather
likes to think they were ashamed of the exploit.
But M'tyana, who was in command, told me himself
that when they charged them with their stabbing
assegais after the firing had ceased — their ammuni-
tion being exhausted — seven were left standing,
and that these sang ; but of course what the words
of that last song were can only be left to conjecture.
The bones of Wilson's party were afterwards
collected, and first buried at Zimbabye, and later
removed to the hill where lie Rhodes's remains.
Lo Bengula was said to have died, but his grave
has never been found, even M'tyana professing
ignorance of it. It is customary to bury native
chiefs where only a few of the chief headmen
would know the grave, and to bury them with
weapons, wagons, and oxen, etc., unless a chief
died in his kraal, when he is usually buried at the
1893] OCCUPATION OP MATABELELAND 115
doorway of his hut and the kraal is deserted, as
old Bulawayo was when Umziligazi died. M'tyana
was a fine specimen of a native, and lived near
Rhodes's Matoppo Farm. He took no part in the
Rebellion of 1896. Some of these old Matabele,
especially members of Lo Bengula's family, were
quite courteous and had nice manners — probably
inherited from their Zulu ancestors. On visiting
M'tyana on one occasion, one of his wives brought
me a calabash of native beer to where I was sitting
with him. I put out my hands to take it, but
the old man, smiling and shaking his head, took it
from me and drank a mouthful or two from it, and
then handed it to me, in accordance with old native
custom.
With the fall of Bulawayo the power of the
Matabele was looked upon as broken, and another
great tract of territory was added to the Chartered
Company's holdings. A force of police was en-
rolled and the land cut up into farms, which were,
however, only half the size of the Mashonaland
farms — 1,500 instead of 3,000 morgen^ — and an
ever-increasing tide of immigration set in.
Living in Lo Bengula's kraal in 1893 were a
Cape boy, John Jacobs, who was the king's
private secretary, and a fugitive from Tongoland
named Umvulaan, who could read and write
English and Dutch, and who came up to Bula-
wayo with Babyan and Umshete (Lo Bengula's
envoys to Queen Victoria) when they returned
from England. John Jacobs disappeared in 1893,
but Umvulaan, who, to the amusement of the
high-class Matabele, called himself Karl Kumalo,
' Morgen — a little over two acres.
114 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
was sentenced to death in 1896, and, being taken
out for execution, three men were told off to
shoot him. One bullet passed through his thumb,
another through his side, and the third took him
in the forehead, but, as a high-velocity bullet will
do, it travelled round the skull beneath the scalp
and continued its flight ; and when a party went
out to bury him next day it was found that he
had crawled away. This is the native referred
to by Olive Schreiner in her book " Peter Halkett
of Mashonaland." Umvulaan reappeared after the
Rebellion of 1896, but at the beginning of the
Boer War I saw him at Fort Usher in the Matoppos,
where he was under arrest for sedition and trying
to stir up the natives. What has since become
of him I don't know, but he often made tender
enquiries after the members of the firing party
who operated on him. As to '' Peter Halkett,"
Rhodes always put the production of that down
to spite. Its history, as he used to tell it, was that,
whilst on a voyage to England, Olive Cronwright-
Schreiner (or Mrs. Cronwright, her maiden name
of Schreiner having been adopted by her husband,
Cronwright) was on board, and was talking to a
friend in Rhodes's hearing, when the friend re-
marked, " Why don't you write another book,
Miss Schreiner ? It is quite a time since your
' Story of an African Farm ' appeared." " Oh, I
don't know," replied Olive Schreiner ; " I don't
think I could write another." Rhodes immediately
said, " You're quite right. Miss Schreiner. You
couldnt write another book. You've put all your
thoughts and ideas into your book, and now
1 8951 MATABELE REBELLION 115
you haven't got it in you to write another one."
Miss Schreiner was much annoyed, and not long
afterwards appeared " Trooper Peter Halkett of
Mashonaland."
Rhodesia, as Matabeleland and Mashonaland
were now called, was in 1895 in a fair way to a
peaceful settlement, farms were being occupied,
homesteads erected, and mining properties opened
up. But events occurred in the south which con-
siderably threw back the development of the
country. The Johannesburg revolution was in the
air, and Dr. Jameson had gone down to Pitsani
Pothlugo (near Mafeking) with guns intended for
the defence of Bulawayo, and he was accompanied
by most of the police. The published object of
his departure was to take over the Bechuanaland
Border Police from the Cape Colony to the service
of the Chartered Company ; but, as is known, at
Christmas 1895 he led the combined force to the
protection of life and property in Johannesburg.
After his surrender to the Boers the country was
in a very unprotected state, the police having been
withdrawn, and the Matabele, who had never been
really beaten, seized an unique opportunity to rise in
rebellion. They had heard that " U'dogetele " (the
Doctor) was a prisoner in the hands of the Boers,
and they were enraged at the wholesale slaughter
of their cattle, which were shot to check the ravages
of rinderpest.
Besides such small superstitions as that the
rainfall had diminished, and that the red locusts
{aviakiwa) had only appeared since the advent
of the white man, while the outbreak of rinderpest
116 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
coincided with his arrival as well, they alleged
many real grievances, such as extortion by the
newly enlisted native police, whom they also
accused of taking their women without lobola}
This they highly resented, as the native police
were indiscriminately recruited, and the high-bred
Matabele would not tolerate their own amaholi
(slaves) being placed in authority over them, much
less give their daughters to them. They were,
furthermore, cast into a state of frenzy by one
whom they called the " Mlimo " — a mysterious
person who was supposed to inhabit a cave in
the Matoppos, and who prophesied that the white
man's bullets would be turned to water and the
whites driven into the sea. A few of the indunas
remained friendly, mainly the older ones, like
M'tyana and Faku ; these both lived on or near
Rhodes's Matoppo farms, as did some of the worst
rebels, like Bozingwan, the witch-doctor, Soma-
bulana, Dhliso, and Umlugulu. (Rhodes said he
liked having them near, so that he could keep his
eye on them.) Babyan, Rhodes's old friend, also
lived on the farm, and he took an active part until
one night he ill-advisedly attacked Faku, and was
severely trounced. He then retired in high dudgeon
to his fastness, which he called Kantole, a corruption
of Dutch " kantoor " — meaning office.
Some of the friendlies turned out, and were led by
an undersized stripling named Betyana, who had a
most repulsive appearance, having lost an eye, and
who was at the same time suffering from an in-
curable disease. He seemed, however, to have great
* Lobola — the price in cattle paid for a wife to her father.
1896] THE MLIMO 117
influence with the natives. As to the identity of
the MHmo (all that survives of him now is his
name given as a nickname to Arthur Montagu
Rhodes), I remember a great picture that appeared
in one of the illustrated papers, depicting the
Scouts Burnham and Armstrong dashing for their
lives before the Matabele, and mounted upon such
horses as Rhodesia has never seen, after having
slain the Mlimo ; but the identity of the prophet
was never established.
After the cessation of hostilities, however, Faku,
the friendly induna, came to Rhodes and demanded
compensation for the death of one of his slaves,
an old holi, who, he said, had been shot by
Burnham and Armstrong while he was hoeing in a
mealie patch.
The Rebellion commenced with a wholesale
massacre of men, women, and children at outlying
farms and in prospecting camps, and in most cases
the bodies were horribly mutilated ; women's hair
was torn out by the roots, and the bodies of little
babies were found which had been pounded up in
mealie-stampers in the sight of their mothers. Is
it a wonder, therefore, that some of the men who
had lost brothers, wives, children, when, during the
subsequent fighting, they saw these results of the
natives' handiwork, " saw red " and took reprisals,
in some cases throwing aside their rifles and
killing the niggers with their hands ?
1896 was indeed a disastrous year for Rhodes.
The close of 1895 saw him at the zenith of his
power, and the opening of 1896 saw him a broken
man. Rinderpest cleared Rhodesia of cattle and
118 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
swept away vast herds of buffalo and other game,
and the curses of the country were then summed
up in the three R's — " Rinderpest, Raid, and Re-
beUion."
Rhodes had been called upon to resign the
chairmanship of the Chartered Company, and he
did so, but this made very little material difference,
as he held and retained the Company's general
power of attorney. He was always more or less
of an autocrat in Rhodesia, and did not hesitate
to grant concessions or exemptions if a man made
out a good case. His example has been emulated
by the directors of the B.S.A. Company in the
way of making special grants of land and in the
giving of special title to farms which under the
mining regulations are withheld from the ordinary
settler.
Rhodes took a more or less active part in the
Rebellion, and was at times in great personal
danger and the cause of much anxiety to his
friends. He did not, however, carry arms. When
he was entering the country, two columns were
sent to escort him, and friction arose between the
officers in command as to seniority, as both held
the rank of colonel. Rhodes, on ascertaining the
cause of the dispute, said, " I'll be the leader, I'll
be colonel, and so that's settled." A cable im-
mediately came out from Home — " Hear you have
appointed yourself colonel — wire explanation." I
don't know what reply, if any, was sent, but a
medal for the campaign was issued to him as
" Colonel the Right Honourable C. J. Rhodes,"
and it is now at Groote Schuur.
1896] MILITARY OPERATIONS 119
The towns went into laager and troops were
enrolled. There was also a body of Cape boys
who did yeoman service in the kopjes. There
were only one or two square fights, the natives
soon retiring from open country to the Matoppos,
whence it was impossible to dislodge them. Regular
Imperial troops were also employed, and were of
the utmost service. The extra cost of their
employment was, moreover, borne by the Chartered
Company and not by Her Majesty's Government.
Of the Imperial officers, one in four was wounded
during the operations in Mashonaland, which makes
one realize that the military operations were a
stern experience to the troops engaged — while
nearly five hundred men out of the Rhodesian
community were lost in murdered, in killed, or
from wounds and exposure, and this amounted to
practically a decimation of the white population in
Rhodesia at that time.
At N'taba zi ka Mambo, Rhodes and a small
body of troops were almost cut off, and Rhodes
was nearly hit, a bullet striking the ground under
his horse. " D'you know," he said afterwards,
" it was a very near thing. I might have been
hit in the stomach, which w^ould have been very
unpleasant, and I should have been very angry."
He also added afterwards, "I was never in such
a funk in my life."
A story was told me that it was at the same
place that supplies of liquor, tobacco, etc., ran
very short, and Jewish traders used to drive up
in all sorts of vehicles with assorted articles, and
their stocks were very soon sold out. One day a
120 RHODES AND THE NORTH [cH. vii
wagonette drove up, and a number of thirsty
and tobaccoless troopers ran up at the sight of a
Jewish type of countenance peering out.
" Got any beer ? " cried one.
" No," was the reply.
" Any stout, whisky, dop ? "
"No, no."
"Any cigarettes or tobacco ? "
" No," again.
" Then what the hell have you got ? and what
do you want here, anyway?" one disappointed
trooper shouted.
Then somebody recognized Rhodes.
All the troops engaged in suppressing the
rebellion were placed under the command of
General Sir Frederick Carrington, while Sir
Richard Martin had been sent out in May as
Resident Commissioner to report to the Imperial
Government. The Matabele had taken to the
fastnesses of the Matoppos, from which they
refused to budge, and Sir Frederick Carrington
had camped near Rhodes's farms and had established
a chain of forts along the Matoppos, and sorties
into the hills were made — without, however,
effecting very much. Rhodes then determined to
see whether " conciliation " might not avail where
there seemed little probability of force succeeding,
and he made his camp some distance from the
main body. Earl and Countess Grey were there
with Mr. and Mrs. Colenbrander, Dr. Hans Sauer,
J. G. McDonald, Grimmer, Jourdan, Vere Stent
the journalist, and a few friends. Rhodes managed
to establish communication with the rebels, cul-
1896] SELECTION OF BURIAL SITE 121
minating in his historic indaba with them, when,
accompanied by Colenbrander, Dr. Hans Sauer,
and Vere Stent, he rode into the hills, and, having
met the indunas, he persuaded them of their folly.
He had the most extraordinary influence over
natives, and no native could look him in the face.
It is certain that a large number of them looked
on him as mad, and therefore he would be per-
fectly safe from personal violence from them.
Before he succeeded in obtaining the submission
of the Matabele he had to spend many weary
weeks in his camp at the foot of the Matoppos.
The chief negotiator between Rhodes and the
rebels was one of Umziligazi's wives (not, however,
the mother of Lo Bengula), and the old lady's
photograph used to hang in Rhodes's bedroom at
Groote Schuur.
It was while he was waiting for the Matabele
to surrender that he selected the site for his grave.
He and Sir Frederick Carrington, Lady Grey, and
J. G. McDonald used to take long rides into the
Matoppos. One day they rode further than usual,
and climbed the hill known as Malindi N'zema,
or "The Worship of the Departed Spirit." He
was very much impressed with the wild grandeur
of the Matoppos, as who is not who has gazed on
that endless sea of rugged granite boulders ? The
hill is not very far from where Umziligazi is
buried. The founder of the Matabele nation is
interred in a cave on the top of a kopje, and round
the cave his wagons, etc., were buried. The body
was placed in a sitting posture, as is customary
with the natives, at the back of the cave, and the
122 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
front, where three large rocks made a natural arch-
way, was walled up with stones. During the
Rebellion the grave was torn open, and some of
the bones of the dead king and his assegais,
etc., were carried off as mementoes. Rhodes
had a search made for these, and had them re-
placed in the grave, which was walled up once
more.
" I admire," said he one day, when on the hill
where his remains now rest, ''the imagination of
Umzilagazi. There he lies, a conqueror alone,
watching over the land that he had won. When
I die, I mean to be buried here, and I shall have the
bones of those brave men who helped me take the
country brought from Zimbabye."
He instructed J. G. McDonald to see that this
was done, and added anxiously, " You don't think
that they will object," referring to the relatives
of the deceased heroes of Shangani, whose bones
have, in accordance with Rhodes's wish, since been
moved from Zimbabye to a spot on the hill where
he lies. Rhodes often referred to Umziligazi
sitting alone, as it were, watching over his people.
" The World's View " he called the view from the
hill ; and it certainly is very fine and wild, although
I have seen many grander. On the first occasion
when he took me up to the hill he told me to shut
niy eyes as we approached the summit, and he led
me up, and then said, " Now look : what do you
think of it ? " I did not know then that I was
expected to be wildly enthusiastic, and as I was
disappointed in it I said, '* Oh, 1 don't know — it's
rather fine." He immediately flew into a rage and
1896] PEACE NEGOTIATIONS 123
said, '^ I suppose if Jesus Christ were to ask you
what you thought of Heaven, you'd say, ' Oh, I
don't know, it isn't bad.' " " Every one will come
and see that view," he said once to Brailsford ; " but
if you had a view no one would take the trouble
to go and look at it."
The negotiations for peace were long and
tedious, and besides a little shooting Rhodes's
only recreations were reading and taking long
rides. The rebels were safely ensconced and
refused to come out, but their supply of grain
was running short, and many were dying of fever
in the unhealthy granite. Rhodes amused himself
in talking to the friendly natives and to others
who had surrendered. He spoke a smattering of
Zulu and kitchen Kafir picked up in Natal and
Kimberley, and he generally contrived to make
himself understood. One of the first to surrender
was Babyan, a true Zulu, then eighty-two years
of age. He and one Umshete were sent by Lo
Bengula as envoys to Queen Victoria in 1889, and
he had a great fund of tales with which he used
to amuse **the Old Man." He disliked being
chaffed about his visit to London, although he ran
about as naked as the day he was born, excepting
for a kilt of wild-cat's tails. One day Colonel
Napier jocularly remarked, " Well, Babyan, how's
the Queen ? " " Ow," retorted Babyan, " we
won't say anything about that ; but, you know, if
you went to England, you couldn't go and talk
to the Queen like I can ; you might see her in her
carriage far off, but if you went to shake hands
with her they would drive you away." He knew
1«4 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
only two phrases of English — " Yes, sir " and " Good
night " — but he would repeat them on every possible
occasion. He was very fond of offering to shake
hands with strangers, until he tried it on a young
South African in the streets of Bulawayo. Your
South African doesn't like that sort of thing, and
this one picked up a stone the size of half a
brick and banged Babyan over the head with it.
Babyan raced off in a great rage to report to
Rhodes, but he got little sympathy. When
Babyan left England, Her Majesty gave him a
gold bracelet with " Babyan from the Queen " on
it. This he sold to a trader in Tati, from whom
Rhodes bought it. When taxed by Rhodes with
having sold the Queen's gift, he unhesitatingly
replied, " How could T, a mere dog, presume to
keep anything that belonged to the Great White
Queen ? "
Some time afterwards, while I was at Fort
Usher in the Matoppos, a large number of natives,
led by Babyan, came in and asked that a certain
missionary who had just come into the country
might be hanged. He was asked why, and replied
that the missionary had described a great 'n Koos
pezulu^ who was supreme over the earth, and
had asked them if they knew what he meant.
One immediately replied, " U'Lawli " (Lawley, the
Administrator). He was told he was wrong.
" Umlamula M'kunzi " (Rhodes), said another ;
but again the missionary said, " No ; some one
greater than Rhodes." Then Babyan, with an
air of confidence, said, " i' Queeni " (the Queen).
' Chief up above.
1896] BABY AN THE WIL\ 125
" No," said the missionary ; " some one even greater
than the Queen." " IP Yamanga " (you Uar), cried
Babyan, and the natives rose and left in a body
to have the missionary hanged for daring to say
that there was any one greater than the Great
White Queen.
Babyan told us the story of his dining at
Windsor, and related how, when they sat down,
there was a great number of knives and forks, and
he wondered what they were going to do with
them all. " Never mind," he said to himself,
" there is plenty of time ; I'll watch and see what
the others do." He did, and came through the
ordeal with credit. " Then," said he, " a beautiful
lady came with flowers, and gave me one to put
in my coat. Then I saw another lady, who also
had roses, and I liked her better, and I wanted to
throw my flower away, but I was afraid I would
be seen and there would be trouble, so I showed
her the other side of the coat and said, " Here,
put one in here too. I wanted her for a wife,
and thought over it for a long time ; but then I
remembered the train only went as far as Mafeking,
and she would have to walk to Bulawayo, and she
didn't look as if she could walk very well. Then
she would want to eat rice and sugar and be very
expensive, so I thought I'd better not say anything
about it."
Babyan was a diplomat. When he and his
fellow envoy were approaching Bulawayo on their
return from England, he said to his companion,
" M'Shete, what are you going to tell Lo
Bengula ? "
126 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
" Oh," replied M'Shete, " I'll tell him all we
saw."
" About the soldiers too ? " asked Babyan.
" Yes," said M'Shete.
" M'Shete," Babyan warned him, " you are a
fool, and you will lose your head. / am going
to take off these clothes and return as I left, and
I shall tell Lo Bengula to have no fear of the
Queen's armies, as his warriors would eat them up."
" And," added Babyan, when he told us the tale, " I
was right. Here I am to-day, alive and well, and
M'Shete— his head is ofF."
Babyan asked Rhodes to allow him to stay in
his camp after he surrendered. There was some
method in this, as he well knew if he went back
to the Matoppos he would be killed. Rhodes
suggested that he should rather endeavour to
persuade the other rebels to surrender. " No,"
said Babyan, "it is better this way : when they
see me sitting here and getting fatter and fatter
every day they will say, * Look at Babyan — he
fought as long as he thought there was a hope, and
then he surrendered ; and now he gets fatter every
day. Let us go and do the same.' "
" Yes," replied Rhodes, " but I'm afraid your
stomach has more to do with it than a desire for
peace, Babyan ; but after all the stomach has had
a great deal to do with the destiny of nations."
After the chiefs had surrendered, Rhodes
addressed them and said, " Now everything is over
and you are going to have peace, and you have to
thank " Johan " (Colenbrander) for it all."
" No, no," they replied, " Johan is only the tick-
1896J END OF THE REBELLION 127
bird ^ — you are the rhinoceros." (This will appeal
to any one who knows the native.)
Rhodes was always fond of talking to natives,
and petted them a great deal. On his birthday,
July 5, 1897, he had a great gathering of natives
on his farms, and some 4,000 executed a war-dance.
He sent in to Bulawayo, about eighteen miles oflp,
and got out bales of blankets and cloth, not to
speak of hundreds of sovereigns and half-sovereigns
as presents for them, and providing oxen and sheep
for them to slaughter and feast on. Natives to
him were merely adult children — he truly enjoyed
sitting and chaffing them in a smattering of different
dialects he had picked up.
After the peace negotiations were concluded,
the Matabele named Rhodes "Umlamula M'kunzi,"
meaning in abbreviation, " The Man who Separated
the Fighting Bulls," the bulls being, of course, the
whites and themselves. They used to add to his
name, in shouting greeting to him, " but you should
have let them fight it out." Immediately things
were settled, Rhodes made preparations for de-
parture for Salisbury, a fact which caused Lady
Grey to say to him one day, " I wonder at you,
Mr. Rhodes, with your energy, patiently waiting
here when there are so many things you want
to do."
"Well, I should like," replied Rhodes, "to be
like Cincinnatus, who gave up a throne and went
and grew cabbages. Such a peaceful life — such
^ Tick-bird — this bird follows the rhinoceros about, and, perching
on him, forages for ticks. They also settle on cattle, and often peck
holes in the hide, causing ulcers.
1^ RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
a peaceful life. And," he added, " I'd grow very
good cabbages, too, mark you."
In August 1896 Rhodes set off for Salisbury
and Beira on his way to England to attend the
Commission of Inquiry on the Raid. On arriving
at Enkeldoorn (the Dutch settlement), he found
the burghers had been in laager for some months,
drawing 7^. 6d. per day each, and that only a few
miles off was the kraal of the native chief, who
kept them in awe, and had refused to surrender.
He immediately said, '* We'll go out and attack
the kraal," and at midnight the column (or
commando) started and chmbed the kopje on
which the kraal was, Rhodes puffing along in his
white flannel trousers with the best of them, a
little riding-switch in his hand. They arrived at
the kraal with the first glint of day, and attacked
the unsuspecting natives, who were shot as they
ran from their huts. Some seventy were killed,
there being only one white casualty, a man named
Schwartz shot through the lung, but he survived.
The column then returned to the foot of the
kopje, and an argument shortly arose as to the
number killed, Rhodes saying one thing and some
one else (probably Grimmer) another.
"Very well," said the Old Man, "we'll count
them again," and immediately started off up the
kopje alone to make a recount of the bodies.
The night before the fight one of the burghers had
a quarrel with a sergeant-major, whom he struck.
A complaint was immediately made to Rhodes,
and he sent for the burgher, who admitted the
offence.
1896] MASHONA REBELLION 129
" Of course," said Rhodes, " I know there was
a woman at the bottom of it. There always is.
You needn't tell me anything about it. I
know."
The railway from the south was now being
pushed on with all possible speed, as its completion
meant the solving of the transport difficulty, which
the ravages of rinderpest had made a very serious
one. Up to then only ox transport had been
employed, but during 1897 mules and donkeys
were used, and I hope never to see again suffering
such as was endured by the overworked animals in
those days. The coach-mules were so poor that
they could barely drag the coaches at walking pace,
and had to be flogged on from stage to stage.
Khama, the Bechuana chief, is said to have lost
750,000 head of cattle by rinderpest, and on the
old Hunter's Road I counted seventy of his wagons,
abandoned with their loads, for any one to loot,
the oxen having died of rinderpest.
The Matabele Rebellion was no sooner over than
the insurrection spread to Mashonaland, and the
country was " up " from the Shangani to Umtali.
It was not finally quelled until late in 1897. Here,
too, a great number of murders were perpetrated
before warning could reach outlying farms and
stations. The Mashonas, who are a low type, and
have none of the chivalrous instincts bequeathed
to the Matabele by their Zulu ancestors, exceeded
the Matabele in cruelty, and many atrocities and
cases of torturing occurred. One unfortunate was
captured in the Lo Magondi District, and his
hands and feet having been hacked off, and the
10
130 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
stumps seared to stop the bleeding, and his eyes
gouged out, the Mashonas amused themselves by
prodding him with hot assegais to make him
wriggle. It was nearly three days before death
brought him merciful release. Another man dis-
covered the disembowelled body of his fiancee
hanging from a rafter by a meat-hook, which had
been thrust through her hand.
Before leaving for England to attend the Com-
mission, Rhodes spoke both at Cape Town and
Port Elizabeth. " I am going home," said he,
" to face the ' unctuous rectitude ' of my country-
men." Many of his friends were seriously alarmed
at the probable effect of these words, and tried to
get him to modify or withdraw them. Some went
so far as to come and meet his ship at Madeira.
" Say something else," they advised. " Say you
were misreported, and said * anxious or upright
rectitude '—anything."
"No," he replied, "I said unctuous rectitude,
and I meant it."
Talking to some friends afterwards he re-
marked that he never made notes nor prepared
his speeches.
" And what about the ' unctuous rectitude '
phrase, Mr. Rhodes ? " asked the friend.
" Oh, that," he replied, with a twinkle of the
eye — "that I had ready three days before I
spoke."
Rhodes returned to the Cape after giving his
evidence before the Commission, and received a
tremendous ovation in Cape Town. It was a wild,
gusty day, and it was almost impossible to hear
1 897] FUTURE PLANS 131
what was said, but one phrase sticks, and was the
key-note of his speech — " My career is only just
beginning."
He then drove out to the ruins of Groote Schuur,
where the new house was rising phoenix-like from
the ashes. He paid one or two flying visits to
Kimberley, and then determined to throw himself
into northern expansion and development. " I
have always loved the north," he said — " my
north. They can't take that away. They can't
change the name. Did you ever hear of a country's
name being changed ? " I replied that the name
would only be changed if the colony were lost to
England ; but I mentioned Van Diemen's Land,
and he seemed quite startled at the recollec-
tion.
Rhodes never visited the Victoria Falls, but was
most enthusiastic about the railways reaching the
Falls, where the spray of the water would reach
the carriages. " We are going on now to cross
the Zambesi at the Victoria Falls. I should like
to have the spray of the water over the carriages."
With his characteristic touch of romance he often
spoke of the pleasing idea of the train crossing the
Falls in the mist arising from the gorge and
having the spray of the water over the carriages.
The little two-foot gauge railway, that later did
such good service at the outbreak of the Boer War,
was also being pushed on from Beira up towards
Umtali. Since then, of course, the small gauge
has been replaced by the standard 3 ft. 6 in., and
the line completed from Beira to Salisbury via
Umtali, while the little 2 ft. was taken up and
132 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
relaid to the Ayrshire and Eldorado mines in
Lo Magondi.
The Chartered Company had concluded an
agreement with Lewanika, king of the Barotse,
on the upper reaches of the Zambesi, and Rhodes
selected Bob Coryndon to go up as the representa-
tive of the Charter. The territory is now known
as North- Western Rhodesia, and has its adminis-
trator and staff of officials at I^ivingstone. The
Charter assisted Lewanika in his western-boundary
dispute, and Rhodes was fearful at one time that
the whole of the Portuguese claims were going to
be allowed, and he wired to Beit to press the
claims of the Charter, adding, " I well know the
predatory instincts of my countrymen — when they
can't rob the foreigner, they rob one anoth^ ; but
I am damned if they're going to rob me ! "
A portion of British Central Africa, north of
the Zambesi, was also added to the Chartered
Company's territory after an outbreak of the
Angonis had been suppressed, and now forms
North-Eastern Rhodesia, also having its adminis-
trator and officials.
Codrington was the first administrator, and
when he came to see Rhodes the latter asked
him what salary he expected. Codrington men-
tioned a sum, and Rhodes said, " That seems
rather a large amount." *' Well," replied Cod-
rington, " I'm worth it, and 1 won't go for less."
He was a strong man and a capable admini-
strator. He succeeded Coryndon in North- Western
Rhodesia, when the latter was appointed to
Swaziland, but shortly afterwards a promising
1 897] BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 133
career was cut off by his untimely death while
on leave in England.
In all, the territory added to the Empire by
Rhodes and the Charter amounted to over
700,000 square miles, and, had he not been
hampered, he would have increased this, for, as
he said, " The world's surface is limited, and we
ought to take as much of it as we can."
The fact that British Central Africa and Uganda
were preserved as British territory, and have not
been allowed to fall into the hands of foreign
powers, is indirectly in a large measure due to
Cecil Rhodes. When Mr. H. H. Johnston (now
Sir Harry) was a British Vice-Consul at Mozam-
bique and visited Nyasaland, he found the territory
up to Victoria Nyanza in danger, as an expedition,
under Major Serpa Pinto and Coutinho, had pro-
ceeded up the Shire River to Chikwawa, at the
foot of the Murchison Falls. He immediately
ordered the expedition to return, and to their
chagrin they were forced to retire. Johnston then
obtained from Lord Beaconsfield the promise of
Imperial support; but immediately W. E. Gladstone
came into power in 1880 Johnston was told that
he could not rely on any financial aid from
the Imperial Government. He later approached
Rhodes, who immediately gave him a lump sum
down, with which he was able to enlist a body of
Sikhs for the suppression of the slave trade and
the protection of the territory, the condition being
that, should the Sikhs be required in B.S.A. Com-
pany territory, their services would be available.
Rhodes also gave him, I think, £10,000 a year
134 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
(from the B.S.A. Company's funds) for some years
to defray the cost of administration/
Although perhaps Rhodes's highest ambition
was to bear a part in the consohdation of the
British Empire — the formation of a great union
with the Mother Country of the Over- Sea
Dominions as integral parts of the Empire — in
his life's work he is more nearly identified with the
country named after him and the Union of the
States of South Africa. To his thinking it was
inevitable that Rhodesia should enter the Union,
and although no one could prophesy when the
time would be ripe for its inclusion, Rhodes had a
clause inserted in the Order-in-Council pledging
Rhodesia to enter the Union.
The thought of Rhodesia — "my north" — was
always a consolation to him in the dark days when
his previous supporters at the Cape had forsaken
him, and, as he pathetically put it, he was aban-
doned by his erstwhile friends and hampered by
those whose assistance he relied on. He devoted
his energies to the development of the north and
its resources and establishing telegraphic and, later
on, railway communication between Cape Town
and Cairo.
Of course, Rhodes's schemes for northern ex-
pansion required control of huge sums of money,
but he did not hesitate to use De Beers' funds,
* I believe £7,500 a year is still paid by the Charter to the
Admiuistrator of British Central Africa as a kind of insurance
against rebellion— i.e. the Charter to have a call upon the services
of the Sikhs and King's African Rifles in case of trouble in North-
Eastern Rhodesia^ and also some use of the Main Transport Depart-
ment of the Nyasaland Government in Nyasa.
1898] SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH 135
when necessary, not only for his political aims
at the Cape, but for supporting the Charter and
the Transcontinental Telegraph Company (of the
latter I think Rhodes held 90,000 of the 100,000
shares). Much of the debenture capital of the
Rhodesian railways was raised under guarantee by
the Imperial Government, and I shall never forget
Rhodes's rage in 1898 when he returned from an
interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer
(Sir Michael Hicks-Beach), whom he had ap-
proached with a view of obtaining a guarantee for
a further northern section of the railway-line.
Rhodes seems to have stormed at the Chancellor,
who washed to temporize, and the latter said, " It's
all right, Mr. Rhodes — you can't bluff me." Some
one entered the room where " the Old Man " was
stamping up and down, and he turned round and
shouted out, '' What d'you think ? The damned
fellow said I was trying to bluiF him! I'm going
home to-morrow." And sure enough he sailed
next day for the Cape.
After dinner that night, however, Rhodes went
over to Alfred Beit's house, and preliminaries were
arranged for obtaining the money required without
an Imperial guarantee.
In return for the support given by De Beers to
the Charter, they received the right of pre-emption
over all diamondiferous ground in Rhodesia —
practically the monopoly of the precious stones —
and the enforcement of the I.B.D. Act. A pros-
pector who thought he had discovered diamonds in
Rhodesia came to " the Old Man " once in Salisbury
and said, " Mr. Rhodes, if I bring you a handful of
136 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
rough diamonds, what shall I get ? " "About fifteen
years," was Rhodes's reply.
Khodes pinned his faith on the gold in Rhodesia
from the time of Frank Johnson's report to the
time of the dropping of the stamps on the Geelong.
" Heany will save the country," he said, in
referring to the Geelong, which he looked upon as
a great proposition.
At the end of 1897 Rhodes, there can be no
doubt, was rather depressed at the prospects of
Rhodesia, though this may have been due in part
to his ill-health at the time. He certainly did
his best to stem the tide of immigration which
threatened, and actually set in after the opening
of the railway to Bulawayo on November 4, 1897.
In referring to this period afterwards, he said, '* It
was a very black time — every one was howling,
and De Beers and the Gold Fields would not give
me any money. "^ His views then are surprising
to those who contemplate the exertions and efforts
to-day of the Land Settlement Department and
the inducements they offer to introduce immi-
grants and attract settlers. Of course, now, as
then, the poor man is not wanted, and every
immigrant must prove himself a desirable settler
by the possession of cash, but Rhodes at that time
had no desire for men without capital, and he had
little faith in the pastoral and agricultural future of
the country, though he did say that if it paid to
grow mealies in Egypt on irrigated ground worth
£100 an acre, it should pay in Rhodesia.
Personally, he said, he was prepared to stand or
» See "Cape."
1897] DESPONDENT AS TO FUTURE 137
fall by the gold in Rhodesia. He would be justified
by the production of gold, provided the industry
was not hampered by outside interference. He
was feeling more or less despondent about every-
thing at about this time — and he must have felt
his hands were tied — the people were clamouring
for some form of self-government, and the
Chartered Company even were much more under
control than anybody thought. It was hard to
devise any system of government by the people,
or at any rate one that would be at all effective,
inasmuch as the Chartered Company, with their
40,000 shareholders at home, were responsible for
every penny of expenditure. As I have said, they
had to bear the cost of the regular troops who
were employed in suppressing the rebellion. They
had to find the salaries for officials in whose
appointment they had no say, such as the Resident
Commissioner, and they had to maintain a force of
police, the number of whom was out of all propor-
tion to the needs of the country, and yet whose
upkeep was insisted on by the Resident Com-
missioner, who, to all intents and purposes, was
their paid servant and yet in control over their
affairs, while the Administration could do absolutely
nothing without the consent and concurrence of
the Imperial Government, through the High Com-
missioner.
The labour question was a very pressing one ; then,
as now, the most important question of the day.
As Rhodes said, the report sent to England by Sir
Richard Martin, who was sent out as Resident
Commissioner after the rebellion, and " the faddists
138 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
of Exeter Hall " and the Aborigines Protection
Society stopped his original plan of getting black
labour, and it was almost unobtainable. Up to
then natives could be got to work in return for
permission to live on the land, which had all been
cut up into farms ; but even that was stopped, and
Rhodes said the British faddist had dealt the worst
blow that had yet befallen Rhodesia.^ He hoped,
then, by carrying the railway north to the Zambesi,
to import natives from there, and also to discover
good coal, which would lessen the cost of gold pro-
duction, and on this he was more or less relying.
A significant utterance of his at the time was,
" The man who wrote * It is possible for a new
country to be connected by cable too soon with
Downing Street ' knew well what he was saying."
In 1901 an attempt was made to introduce
indentured Arab labour, and two officials were
sent to bring them to Beira. Instead, however, of
being supphed with the inland labourers, who
might have been of some use, they apparently
recruited the scum of Aden. I saw them in a big
compound at Beira surrounded and guarded by
Portuguese soldiers, and a more miserable lot of
diminutive wretches I have never set eyes on.
After some trouble, owing to their supplies of
ghee^ having run out, they were drafted up
country to the mines, and then the fun began.
They were terrified out of their wits at the idea of
going underground, and deserted in all directions,
1 Large areas have been surveyed as native reservations, but no
practical effort has been made to make them settle in them.
'^ "Ghee "—a compound of rancid butter eaten with rice, the usual
labourer's ration in the East.
1898] SLAVE TRAFFIC SUPPRESSION 1S9
and for some time the police did nothing but
chase Arabs. They were finally all drafted back
to Aden, and the experiment is not likely to be
repeated.
Up to 1897 the territory from which most of the
present labour supply is now obtained was con-
tinually raided ; the Arab slave-traders and ivory-
stealers were a source of great trouble in the north,
and were using B.S.A. territory as a short cut to
Zanzibar. With their allies, the " Awemba," ^ they
used to raid the "M'senga."^ In September 1897
a party of fifteen native police attacked the
marauding Arabs, burned their boma, ^ and cap-
tured several of the Arab chiefs and liberated some
two hundred women and children slaves.
The Awemba were dealt with, and the M'senga
were released from bondage. Hitherto they had
been absolute slaves of the Arabs, having to grow
grain, kill elephants, etc., etc., for them. The
bomas established then shut up the great Arab
caravan route and put a stop to the slave-dealing
caravans which were going through weekly.
Although the railway has been running across
the Zambesi for some time, it has not had the
effect Rhodes anticipated of providing the neces-
sary native labour, and although many natives are
now imported from the north to work for various
periods, most of them walk down.
In 1898 Rhodes was reappointed chairman of the
B.S.A. Company at the general meeting held in the
^ "Awemba^" '^M'senga" — native tribes.
^ " Boma " — zareba or kraal ; temporary settlement, usually fortified
and entrenched ; lit. enclosed space — scherm.
140 RHODES AND THE NORTH [ch. vii
Cannon Street Hotel, and had an ovation such as
probably has never been accorded to any private
individual in London. The hall was packed to
suffocation ; the stairs v^ere one swaying mass of
shareholders eager to welcome Rhodes back, and
even in the courtyard in front of the hotel there
was a mass unable to gain admittance. I went
up with Mrs. Maguire and the Honourable Evelyn
Rothschild, for whom seats had been reserved, but
arriving a few minutes after the hour at which we
were expected, we were unable to gain admittance
to the hall. The reception accorded to him must
have quite satisfied him in regard to the position he
held in the minds of the shareholders of the Com-
pany, and he certainly was very pleased when he
returned from the meeting. He probably felt as
he did on his visit to England after the Raid, anent
which he said to Jourdan, " When I saw the
London bus-drivers and cabmen touch their hats
to me in a friendly sort of way, I knew I was all
right, and that the man in the street had forgiven
me."
Rhodes left for the Cape not long after, and
threw himself with all his energy into the develop-
ment of the north.
CHAPTER VIII
THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98
Although I was appointed to the Colonial Office
at the Cape in the beginning of 1893, when the
Prime Minister's Office formed part of the Colonial
O^ce, and used to see Rhodes every day, it was not
until his return after the Raid Commission that
I spoke to him. He was then the recipient of
addresses from all sections of the community, and
1, with others on the staff, deemed it my duty to
call at Groote Schuur, and looking on it as a
terrible bore, hoped to get it over as soon as
possible. To my surprise, however, when my card
was sent in, a steward came out and told me
Rhodes wished to see me. I went round the
house and found him seated in his favourite chair
on the back stoep facing the mountain. With him
was Sir Richard Southey, an old friend of my
father's. " Well," said Rhodes, " I wondered
when you were coming to see me." I felt certain
qualms at the recollection of his having seen me
lunching at Poole's nearly every day at the next
table to him, and wondered if I were going to be
cross-examined as to how a civil servant could,
" on tuppence a year," as he put it, patronize the
141
142 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
expensive Poole. I fenced by saying that he was
so little at home that one could hardly hope to see
him when one called. " And now," said he when
tea had been brought, " what do you want ? " I
wondered if he expected me to ask for a horse or a
piece of silver, and feebly replied, " What do you
mean, Mr. Rhodes?" ''Why did you come to
see me ? What can I do for you ? " I answered
that I had not come up with any definite idea as to
anything he could do for me, and added, " I really
don't want anything." " What ! don't you want to
go up country ? " he asked. ** Ah, yes," I repHed,
" I have always wanted to go up country ; but you
understand that that is not the reason why I came
here to-day." I was beginning to wish myself well
out of it, when Sir Richard Southey created a
diversion by speaking of my father in his young
days.
Shortly afterwards I rose to go, and then
Rhodes said, ** All right : if you want to go north,
just write me a note to say so, and I'll get Milton
to get you up. *' Very well — thanks," I answered;
"I'll write to-night." "Ah, then you did want
something ? " he said, with a smile. " No, I did
not," was my reply, and I left. That evening,
however, I thought things over, and instead of
writing as he suggested I wrote and told him that
I was sorry that he misinterpreted the object of
my call — that I had not come to get anything out
of him, strange as it might seem, and that 1
declined with thanks his offer to send me north.
(This letter of mine I found after his death in a
small bag which Tony, his valet, carried for him ;
1 897] START FOR RHODESIA US
and he, in referring to it once, said smilingly to
Jack Grimmer before me, " He was very angry
when he wrote that, wasn't he ? ") Of course, I
knew that 1 should hear from him again, and his
reply was an invitation to call upon him on my
way to office next morning. I went, and found
him in flannels on the back stoep, and he greeted
me most cordially, gave me a lecture on con-
trolling the temper, and told me to come and see
him again on his return from Kimberley.
I thought that was the end of the matter ; but one
Tuesday afternoon in May I was walking up the
avenue leading to Groote Schuur when he passed
me in his Cape cart, and, stopping, he told me
to get in. We drove up to the house and found
Jourdan in the billiard-room. I had known Jourdan
(who is my senior by some years) for some time.
Rhodes then asked me whether I would have tea
or whisky-and-soda. I declared for tea, and " the
Old Man " said to Jourdan, " Which do you think
he'd rather have ? " " Oh, I think a whisky-and-
soda," said Jourdan. It was accordingly ordered,
and I was nearly poisoned by the first whisky-and-
soda I had ever touched. Rhodes then turned to
me and said, "I'm going north to-night, and may
go on to the Zambesi. Would you like to go with
me and write my letters ? " " Certainly," I replied,
" but I shall have to resign my appointment ; but I
can do so to-morrow, and leaving on Thursday
night meet you in Kimberley." '' Very well," he
answered, " that will do. I'll give you a letter to
Sir Pieter Faure " (Secretary for Agriculture; he
would not write to Te Water, who was Colonial
144 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
Secretary), "and as a young man leaving Cape
Town must have a few debts, here is a cheque to
clear them off." Handing me the letter and cheque,
which was for more than I had had at one time in
my life before, and telling me to come and see
him off by train that night, he left the room. I saw
him off that night, and having made my arrange-
ments I was prepared to leave on the following
day, when, to my surprise, a telegram arrived
telling me to go to Salisbury by the quickest
route — ix, via Beira. I hardly understood this;
but as, instead of resigning the Cape Civil Service,
I had arranged for transfer from the Cape to the
Rhodesian Civil Service, I felt I had taken a wise pre-
caution. I entrained for East London to catch the
coast boat, but at Beaufort West I received a wire
from Rhodes telling me to come on to Kimberley.
I immediately changed into the northern section of
the train, and arrived at Kimberley to find Tony
de la Cruz on the platform anxiously scanning
the carriages until he saw me, when he came
up with beaming countenance. I found then that
Rhodes had intended taking Jourdan up north with
him as far as Salisbury, but the latter had got laid up
in Kimberley and was about to return down country,
and Rhodes was on tenterhooks, until he heard that
I had arrived, as he had no one " to write his letters."
I immediately took charge of his despatch-boxes,
code-book, cheque-book, etc., and the same day we
left for the north by special train in De Beers'
coach, which was afterwards used to convey Rhodes 's
coffin from Cape Town to Bulawayo. Besides
Rhodes, Messrs. Gardner- Williams, Captain Pen-
iSgy] AN ANXIOUS HOSTESS US
fold, and Francis Oats, directors of De Beers, who
were going up to inspect the Monarch Mine, were
on the train, as well as Mr. Bisset, the newly-
appointed general manager of the Bechuanaland
railways and Colonel Harry White, who had just
returned from his term at HoUoway for his share
in the Raid, and the indispensable Tony completed
the party. The railway terminus was then at
Mochudi, but the line had been roughly laid for
construction purposes as far as Tati (Francistown),
and was being pushed on in places at the rate of
two miles a day. The De Beers' car was, 1 need
hardly say, luxuriously appointed, having, amongst
other things, a full-length bath, cold storage
chamber, etc., etc.
On the way up some of us one day lunched with
a railway official, and in Rhodes's honour a couple
of bottles of champagne were provided — an un-
wonted luxury in Bechuanaland, into which Khama
prohibits the importation of any intoxicating liquor.
Delicate champagne glasses also graced the board,
but Rhodes would have nothing to do with these,
and, seizing the biggest tumbler he espied, poured
himself out a bumper. The hostess's face was a
picture of dismay, but her fears as to the pre-
cious wine "going round" were allayed by the
rest of us contenting ourselves with whisky-and-
soda. For the matter of that there was plenty
of champagne on the car a few yards away.
Rhodes was terribly bored by the addresses of
welcome — some beautifully engrossed — read out
to and presented to him, and certainly did not
take much pains to conceal his impatience when
11
146 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [cH. viii
they were being read out. When we arrived at
Mafeking, a committee of citizens, headed by the
mayor, waited on him at the railway platform,
and made their obsequious bows, and presented
the inevitable scroll ; and shortly after these pro-
ceedings were over a rough-looking sportsman,
looking a typical prospector, elbowed his way
through the crowd, and, holding out his hand in
greeting (I'm not sure he did not spit on it for
luck!), said, "Hullo, mate!" "Hullo!" said
Rhodes, gripping his hand, to every one's astonish-
ment, " I'm very glad to see you again." He
afterwards told me that he had known the man
well in the old Kimberley days, and that they
had worked as miners on adjoining claims.
At Mafeking we met the members of the " Lake
N'gami Trek." These were a number of Dutch
famihes who were got together by the Rev.
Adriaan Hofmeyr, and who were going to trek
through the Kalahari Desert to settle round about
Lake N'gami ; they had a number of things to
discuss, and Rhodes made me come and interpret.
But 1 was decidedly nervous, not to say in a blue
funk, and made an awful hash of it. Rhodes then
came along, and, pushing me aside, said, " I can
speak Dutch better than you can." He then
harangued the trekkers in most villainous Taal,
they nodding gravely the while. This trek was
a failure, and after many hardships most of the
people who composed it returned.
At Palapye, in Khama's country, we saw Bob
Coryndon, who was on his way across the Kalahari
via Panda-Ma-Tenka, to take up his new appoint-
1 897] TONY'S METHODS 147
ment in Barotseland. While camped one night
on the road near two wagons, which were out-
spanned, I saw Tony grilling some steaks, and
I asked him what they were. " Roan antelope,"
he replied. " Where did you get them ? " I asked,
and he grinned and pointed to the wagons. I then
asked him whose wagons they were. " I dunno,"
said Tony ; " I didn't see any one there."
After several days by coach we arrived at
Bulawayo, and went for a few days to Govern-
ment House, which lies about three miles outside
the town proper. It was built by, and really
belonged to, Rhodes. It is situated at the place
where Lo Bengula used to try and deal out
punishment to malefactors, and the tree under
which he sat when administering justice still
stands. Fifteen miles off is " N'taba 'Zinduna "
(the hill of the indunas), where a number of
Lo Bengula's indunas were slaughtered ; and three
miles away runs the Umguza River, in the pools
of which swarm the sacred^ crocodiles, to whom
those who offended Lo Bengula were thrown.
Government House was, at the time of our visit,
occupied by Sir Arthur Lawley, who was Admini-
strator. The question of an appointment of an
administrator in succession to Earl Grey had
arisen, and the choice lay between Sir Arthur
Lawley and Mr. W. H. (now Sir William) Milton.
Rhodes could not be got to discuss the matter ; but
one evening, when we were going to the drawing-
^ The crocodile is not worshipped by the Matabele, but they are
much incensed at one being killed, as they believe the killing of
a crocodile will keep away the rain.
148 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
room after dinner, as I got to the door one of
the guests pulled me back, and said Lady Lawley
wished to speak to Mr. Rhodes privately, and
Rhodes found himself alone with her. She im-
mediately tackled him, and I promptly went to
bed. Rhodes came into my room late that
night — furious — and asked me what the devil I
meant by leaving him alone with the lady. A
compromise was effected by the honours being
divided, Milton becoming Administrator of Ma-
shonaland at Salisbury, and Lawley Administrator
of Matabeleland, the Administrator of Mashona-
land bearing the title of Senior Administrator.
Rhodes was now adding to his Matoppos farms,
and had placed Percy Ross (of the Queenstown
gang) in charge, under the guidance of the local
manager of the Consolidated Gold Fields of South
Africa, J. G. McDonald.
One evening, while we were at Government
House, Rhodes took me outside, and pointed to
the twinkling lights of Bulawayo.^ "Look at
that," he said — " all homes ; and all the result of
an idle thought."
In the gardens of Government House we met
one morning a young fellow to whom Rhodes
spoke ; and he told " the Old Man " that he was
a nephew of a prominent English Radical Minister.
Rhodes conversed with him for a while, and then,
turning to go, he said, " You seem a pleasant sort
of fellow, but you've got a damned bad man as
an uncle ! "
Leaving Government House we took up our
quarters at the offices of the Consolidated Gold
1 897] APPLICATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE 149
Fields in the town. I had an office and bed-
room combined, partitioned off by a curtain,
and Rhodes would lie on my bed, and listen to
the never-ending stream of suppliants,^ who stood
twelve deep outside the door, with petitions for
all manner of things — one wanted to be set up
in business, another a farm, another a span of
oxen and wagon, and yet another to have his
claim for compensation revised. Most of these
had to be put off, nearly all had to be told to
call again, and some had to be sternly discouraged.
My favourite excuse was, " Mr. Rhodes is away at
his farm in the Matoppos, but if there is any-
thing I can do for you ..." and so on. But
now and then, just as I had assured some urgent
petitioner that "the Old Man" was miles away,
I would hear a grunt, and Rhodes would pull the
curtain aside, and, emerging from my " bedroom,"
say in his well-known falsetto, " Well, and what
do you want?" The visitor's look at me would
be full of eloquence.
Rhodes was giving away money during these
months at an enormous rate, and it is no wonder
that he was heavily overdrawn on his accounts at
Kimberley, Cape Town, and London. Numbers
^ It must be remembered that a majority of these people had risked,
ill many instances lost^ all they possessed in pioneering the country.
Their losses were in many cases direct, but by a quaint system of logic
they ascribed everything to the Raid. If the police had not been
withdrawn, rinderpest might have been stamped out, and they would
have saved some cattle ; and if the rinderpest had not made it necessary
to shoot native cattle, there would have been no rebellion, and their
farms would not have been looted : even then, if the police were still
in the country, the rebellion would not have been so serious and
far-reaching in its eiFects — and so on ad infinitum.
150 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
of men, whom it was found impossible to get
employment for, or who were ill, were, during
1896 and 1897, given free passages home to
England by Rhodes ; and on one occasion he
paid the passages to Cape Town of a whole
circus troupe whom he found stranded.
In Bulawayo every one was full of plans for the
future. The opening of the railway had been
arranged for November the 4th, and invitations
were issued to a large number of members of the
House of Commons. Stands in the town were
eagerly invested in, and realized prices they have
not seen since. Houses and blocks of offices and
chambers were being built, and nobody foresaw
that a couple of years afterwards many of them
would be abandoned to the white ants, or free
occupation of them allowed in order to have them
cared for. Altogether a huge sum of money was
spent in bricks and mortar which brought no return.
Every one was, however, cheerful in anticipation
of the promised boom. A prospector could sell
almost any blocks of claims, while properties show-
ing reasonable prospects were easily floated in
London.
A great number of companies were formed to
take up gold properties, nearly all of them with
large capital, and they were spending money freely.
The majority of these have since been reconstructed
or liquidated.
During this time at .Bulawayo we used to ride
out to the Matoppos, on an average, twice a week,
and Rhodes had several horses — one in particular
a rather fine-looking entire, but who wanted holding
1 897] NO HORSEMAN 151
up, as he stumbled badly. One had to be particular
about his mounts, as he rode very carelessly, allow-
ing the reins to lie on the horse's neck and sitting
silently thinking, as if he were asleep.^
A shooting-party w^as arranged, and a quiet salted
horse was saddled for him, while I was to ride the
entire. When he came out, "Oho," he said, "of
course the secretary must have the best horse. Off
you get." I dismounted and we exchanged horses,
and he and 1 rode on together to overtake the rest
of the party, w^ho had gone ahead. Rhodes rode as
usual in silence, his reins on the horse's neck, and
presently the horse stumbled and threw him on to
his neck. He very nearly came off, but clung on
to the animal's neck until I could help him down.
He w^as as mad as possible, and turning the entire
loose kicked at him and immediately annexed the
horse I was riding, saying, "Damn it, you meant to
murder me ! " Here was a temperament to deal with.
He was a very fair shot, but wild and reckless,
and more than once peppered a beater. Jack
Grimmer and I took care to keep out of range of
him if possible. Otherwise we would throw our-
selves flat down whenever we saw him raise his gun,
for if a bird flew straight at your head you could
rely on getting a charge of shot round your ears.
Our " taking cover " always made him furious. In
a beat or drive, too, he would get on to his horse
and presently appear right in front of the guns.
' He had a very bad seat on a horse, and I doubt whether he could
have sat a horse at the trot. I never saw him trot a horse. In Kimber-
ley his nickname amongst the diggers was '^ Jack Ashore," owing to his
seat on a horse and the fact that the loose trousers in which he rode
worked themselves up to his knees.
152 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
At Bulawayo he said to me once, " A man should
always try and carry out his ambitions. Now your
ambition was to be a doctor, and if you like you
can go to England to-morrow and qualify in four
years." I elected not to go, however.
It was at Bulawayo in 1897 that he had the first
heart attack while I was with him. We were out
riding one afternoon, and he suddenly reeled and
nearly fell off his horse. We turned and came in
slowly, and he said, '' Remind me, when we get
home, to give you something, in case anything
happens to me." I made a deprecatory remark,
and he said, " Don't be a fool ; you can't go back
to the Civil Service at tuppence a year." When
we got in, he asked me to go to the chemist's
and get some cold cream, as he felt sunburnt ; and
when I returned he handed me a letter addressed
to B. F. Hawksley, superscribed, " To be delivered
by Gordon le Sueur." It was a very tattered
envelope when I gave it to Hawksley, and after
Rhodes's death proved to be a bequest of £5,000.
This £5,000 I invested in business at the Cape, and
in twelve months doubled it, but the slump which
visited the Cape in 1904-5, and w^hich ruined
nearly every land speculator there, swept it away.
Rhodes spent much of his time at the huts on
his Matoppo farms, and he then conceived the idea
of building a huge dam which would irrigate one
of the farms. He immediately set about having
surveys made, and would work out the probable
capacity of the dam, which he declared would be the
biggest in the world. Although it was pointed out to
bim that the ciatchment area was only four and a half
1 897] THE MATOPPOS DAM 15S
square miles, he could not be persuaded that the
dam would never fill. As a matter of fact, filled
to its greatest capacity it would only be a moderate-
sized reservoir compared to many in America and
other parts of the world ; but his heart was set on
the dam, which he said was to be the biggest in the
world, and the dam was accordingly built at huge
expense. It never has been nor ever will be full ;
nor if it were, is there sufficient irrigable land below
it to justify the expenditure.
About this time a dam was being made by Huntley
on an adjoining farm, and in the course of excavating
a gold reef was exposed, and a prospector immedi-
ately pegged the site of the dam as a gold location.
To obviate this danger Rhodes had the Matoppo and
Inyanga blocks of farms reserved against prospecting.
Rhodes was fond of taking parties out to the farm,
and on the second occasion that 1 went out on our
return darkness had fallen and I was riding behind.
The whole party over-rode the track turning to
Bulawayo about two miles from the town, and went
on into the veld. I was keeping a look-out for the
track, and turned up into it, rode on a little way,
and then shouted out to them. They got back on
to the road, and then Lord Grey asked me how I
had managed to keep the track. " Oh," I answered,
" I've been here once before, you know." I heard
Rhodes grunt eloquently, as I expected he would.
An abscess formed in my palate while here, and the
only available doctor, now deceased, was addicted
to morphia. He treated me for neuralgia, and the
pain became unbearable. Rhodes walked off to
the club oije evening and came back with a large
154 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
bottle of champagne in each of his overcoat pockets,
and remarked, " There is only one treatment for
that sort of pain. You drink both of these and
go to sleep."
I had long wanted to hear details of the Raid,
but Rhodes said very little on the subject, until
at Bulawayo a long letter arrived from England,
enclosing a copy of the Raid Commission's report,
w^hich the writer described as a " most mendacious
document." I handed it to Rhodes without read-
ing it, as I was not sure whether he wanted me to
or not. I was new to him then. He read the
letter, and then gave it back to me with the
report, saying, " You see how I have to trust
my secretary ? "
One afternoon Rhodes and I were sitting in his
bedroom, when we heard cheering going on outside,
and I saw that a crowd had collected. Going out
to ascertain the cause, I found that Dr. Jameson
had returned and was addressing the crowd. I
went in and told Rhodes, who merely grunted
and said, "All right, stay here." Jameson then
entered the house, and Rhodes went in and met
him in the dining-room. He held out his hand
and said, " Hullo, Jameson ! " and Jameson shook
hands, but never said a word. That was all that
passed then, but that handshake was distinctly
eloquent. Lord Grey came in shortly afterwards,
and greeted me with, " Well, and how's the bump
of locality ? "
A meeting of the indunas of the Matabele
nation was called at the Matoppo farm while we
were at Bulawayo, at which " the Old Man " was
1 897] NATIVE GRIEVANCES 155
asked to ratify numerous promises made to the
natives at the time of his peace indaba of 1896.
Various grievances were laid before him, and
these were easily disposed of, but the natives'
chief desire was that one of Lo Bengula's sons
might be sent up to reign over them ; otherwise
they submitted that the Matabele nation would
cease to exist as a nation.
The principle of hereditary chieftainship is
strong in the native mind, and although the
Matabele recognized that the Government, repre-
sented by the Administrator, replaced Lo Bengula
as the chief authority, they were yet intensely
anxious to have one of their own race to represent
them in disputes, as they put it, between them-
selves and the Chartered Company.
They particularly wished Lo Bengula's eldest
son, N'jube, to be sent up, and he also was very
anxious to be allowed to return to Bulawayo, " not
as a king," he explained, " but as an itvifundisi
(teacher), to point out to the people their duty to
the white men."
N'jube had, however, been sent down to the
Cape, and was afterwards removed to Kimberley,
where he remained up to the time of his death.
Major Forbes at this time was endeavouring to
get the Trans- Continental line through to the
Zambesi by way of what is now the Enterprise
District, east of Salisbury and M 'tokos, but the
natives were carrying off the wire and poles as fast
as they were erected, and about the only portion
recovered was nine inches of wire fired into the
leg of one of the 7th Hussars by the natives.
156 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [cH. viii
The country through which Forbes was trying
to pass was, moreover, very dry, the rebelhon was
still raging in Mashonaland, and Rhodes made up
his mind that the route was impracticable. He
proposed to change it, so as to go from Umtali
via Inyanga, and Jameson left for Salisbury to
inquire into the feasibility of the new route.
Shortly afterwards came the news of the defeat
of Kunzi and Mashomgombi, and the road was
considered safe. We accordingly left for Salisbury
by special coach, accompanied by Sir Lewis
Michell, and as far as Gwelo by Sir Arthur
Lawley. The indispensable Tony de la Cruz was
with us, and we carried our own supplies, camping
just where we felt inclined. I had an Irish setter with
me, who travelled on foot the whole three hundred
miles. Sir Arthur Lawley was going to camp
out with Lady Lawley and some friends — we
heard afterwards that nine lions had attacked their
laager and that they shot four of them. " By
Jove ! " said Rhodes, *' Lady Lawley 's maid will be
a heroine. What tales she will be able to tell
when she gets home 1 "
Lions were very numerous there, and one night
we camped on the Shangani River, which was a
particularly bad locality for them. It was a bright
moonlight night, and Rhodes regaled Sir Lewis
with gruesome lion stories. Then we went to
bed, Rhodes and I under a sheepskin in the coach,
while Sir Lewis had a little swinging cot on posts,
which he set up close by. In the early hours of
the morning I was awakened by a terrific yell, and
jumping out saw Sir Lewis sitting up in his cot.
1897J THE LADIES OF GWELO 157
Rhodes 's lion stories had had their effect. Sir Lewis
said he was dreaming Kons, and awoke to find a
great yellow beast licking his face. He let out the
yell as he thought it was a lion, but it was only
" Chance," my Irish setter, displaying his affection.
It was here that Rhodes tore up a small journal
that I used to keep. He would have nothing to
do with journals or diaries, since Bobby White's
journal was discovered by the Boers on the field
of Doornkop.
At Gwelo we discovered that no accommoda-
tion had been provided, but a banquet had been
prepared. Rhodes had accordingly to sleep as
usual in the coach, which was drawn up in
the street ! The next afternoon I got wind that
a deputation of ladies of the town was going to
call on him in the coach and invite him to tea.
When I told him, he grabbed his gun, and, telling
me to follow with one of the boys, he made off for
a belt of trees on the veld a little way off. Here
he lay down, pulled his hat over his eyes pre-
paratory to going to sleep, and told me to go on
with the boy and shoot something and call for him
at sundown. I went, and a couple of miles off
came across " Buck " Williams, the Bulawayo
hangman, prospecting for gold. I brought back
a buck, and we walked home to the coach. We
went on by way of Enkeldoorn, where there is a
Dutch community, and where a " bucksail " dance
was being held that night in Rhodes's honour.
For the uninitiated I may explain that a " buck-
sail" dance is held in the open. The ground is
flattened down and the big tent or bucksail, which
158 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
is used to cover wagons, is spread over it to form a
dancing floor. Partners are selected, and these are
retained during the whole of the dance, which
generally lasts from sunset to sunrise, with intervals
for refreshments. The orchestra usually consists
of a concertina and guitar or fiddle, but in default
of these a mouth-organ or two does service.
The dance at Enkeldoorn was a very vigorous
one, and Rhodes and I went to try and sleep in
the store amongst cases of candles, etc., etc., while
Sir Lewis was accommodated at the Standard Bank
premises. The storekeeper also retired early, but he
got little or no rest that night ; nor did we for that
matter, for half an hour after retiring came a bang
on the door, and a voice asked for " a bottle of dop
(Cape brandy) please." " Five bob," said the store-
keeper as he supplied it. Half an hour later came
another request for a bottle. " Seven and six " was
the charge for this ; and so each successive half-hour
came the demand for dop, and each time the price
went up half a crown. I went to sleep when the
price had got to about twenty-five shillings and the
music was getting erratic. At Charter we were told
that a new road had been made and we set off along
it. We went on till almost dark (about twenty-five
miles I judged it) and arrived at the base of a big
granite kopje. We were convinced that we were
on the wrong road, but the mules were too tired
to turn back. We outspanned, fires were lighted,
and everything was made snug. About nine o'clock
one of the boys came and called me out, and
whispered to me to come with him. Rhodes and
Sir Lewis had then turned in. I got my revolver
1 8971 IMPRESSING THE NATIVES 169
and accompanied the boy to the foot of the kopje.
We crawled up a little way, and he said, " Listen."
I did, and heard natives talking excitedly and then
shouting and clapping their hands. We returned
quietly to the coach and the mules were given an
extra feed. I did not go to bed that night, but
about 1 a.m. roused the boys and Sir Lewis, and we
turned back to Charter, nor was I sorry to leave
the kopje behind. We should assuredly have been
attacked at dawn. On our return to Charter we
saw the officer in charge of police, and he said that
a patrol was going out that very day to attack the
kraal on the kopje under which we had spent the
night. He spoke of a fight they had had a short
time before, and on Rhodes asking how many were
killed he replied, '* Very few, as the natives threw
down their arms, went on their knees, and begged
for mercy." "Well," said Rhodes, "you should
not spare them. You should kill all you can, as it
serves as a lesson to them when they talk things
over at their fires at night. They count up the
killed, and say So-and-so is dead and So-and-so is
no longer here, and they begin to fear you."
When we got into SaHsbury in July 1897 I
thought it was the most dismal hole I had ever
seen. In spite of its being the dry season a soak-
ing rain was falling, and the streets, ill-lighted by a
few straggling oil-lamps, were a mass of mud. It
was about nine o'clock at night, as Rhodes wanted
to get in by dark, so as to have no demonstrations,
and we went straight on to Government House,
where we found Dr. Jameson. Rhodes was disgusted
to find him dining off Australian tinned mutton,
160 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [cu. viti
which Jameson laughingly said was very good stuff.
Things were then at famine prices. Fresh meat
almost unobtainable (Rhodes bought a duiker
[buck] weighing about 35 lb. for £40), eggs 40.9,
a dozen, and most other things in proportion. It
was a nice comfortable house, but any house would
have seemed a palace after nine days in that coach.
The question of the telegraph was immediately
gone into, and Jameson set off for Umtali to try
and go through Inyanga to the Zambesi.
A day or two afterwards Jack Grimmer turned up
from Umtali with Dr. Craven. Craven had ridden up
on one of Rhodes's horses, lent to him by Grimmer,
and " the Old Man " was furious at his horse being
lent. Grimmer was riding a big, rawboned white
horse, and Rhodes thought he liked the look of him,
and said, " You gave away my horse, so I'll take
yours in return," and he prepared to mount.
Grimmer begged him not to ride him, as he took a
lot of handling ; and 1, having seen the horse going
through some of his tricks, joined in. " I suppose
you think I can't ride," he said, and climbed into the
saddle. The horse immediately went off across a
vacant stand at a jolting trot, taking about six yards in
his stride. Rhodes bumped about for a bit, and then
managed to pull up sufficiently to jump off. The
horse went off at a gallop, and Rhodes strode up
to us, purple with rage. " Confound your brute of
a horse. 1 believe you tried to kill me I " he cried.
While here a shoot was arranged for Rhodes
down the Mazoe Valley, beyond Mount Hamp-
den, and in the afternoon Rhodes proposed
that we should walk down the bed of the river.
1 897] A SHOOTING PARTY 161
where he thought we should get some wild pig.
He stipulated that we should go on foot, and no
one take a horse. I was with him towards the
right bank, the rest of the party on the left. After
going about two miles in the broiling sun, some
shots were fired by the others, and I heard the shot
rattling in the reeds round us. Rhodes immediately
threw himself down on his face and covered his
eyes. Just then I saw his horse being led down
the road on the opposite bank, and as I had had
quite enough of the old rice-fields we had been
walking through, I suddenly turned and fired both
barrels to our rear, and yelling out " pig " I ran
back. Then I sat down and saw Rhodes go across
to the others. I then made my way back to the
camp and lay down under a tree. A short time
afterwards Rhodes rode up. " What's the matter
with you ? " he inquired. I only groaned. " Have
you got a touch of fever?" said he. "I think I
must have," I repHed ; " I know I feel awfully
queer." He went off to the wagon and got a big
glass of gin-and-soda, and made me drink it, and
also ten grains of quinine, and he was thus
tending me when the rest of the party returned.
A carnival was held at Salisbury in July 1897,
and included three days' racing, and Rhodes was
asked to occupy the judge's-box.
Rhodes hated riding-breeches and top-boots,
hunting-stocks, and anything loud in the way of
dress, and had lectured Grimmer and myself on the
subject at Salisbury. He then went off to the
races, saying as he went, " I hope you won't come
down and make fools of yourselves at the races."
12
162 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
Some time after he had gone Grimmer and I
arrayed ourselves in riding-breeches, boots, spurs,
and the gaudiest ties and loudest checks we had.
We then mounted two small ponies belonging to
Dr. Jameson. When we were mounted, our feet
came to within a foot of the ground ; and in all
our glory we set off to the racecourse. Carefully
avoiding the judge's-box in which Rhodes was, we
made our way to the opposite side of the course,
and waited until the horses in the hurdle race had
passed us. We then set off and galloped down
the course after them. Rhodes was furious, and
we left the meeting before he did. We knew it
would never do to face him alone that evening, so
went to the Salisbury club, and we invited every
one we met to dine with Rhodes that evening,
and we all went up together — about eleven in all.
Rhodes was more or less spluttering all through
dinner, but the culminating point was reached
when at pyramids after dinner Dr. Craven calmly
told him that he did not know the rules of the
game. Rhodes went straight off to bed, and when
we met at breakfast next morning said, "Look
here, in future when you go out, Le Sueur,
Grimmer stays in, and when Grimmer goes out
you stay in, but you don't go out together again."
As to Dr. Craven, when his name was mentioned
to him later, he said, " That's the damned fellow
who rode my horse, and said I couldn't play
pyramids I "
While we were at Salisbury a bazaar was held
in connection with the carnival, and Rhodes went
down, late of course, and was gaily plundered at
1897] MANICALAND 163
every stall. The stalls had been fairly well cleared,
but he bought about a hundredweight of sweets,
which he said would do to " feed Le Sueur on."
The carnival was arranged to boom the capital
a bit, and a week of festivity was indulged in ;
but, if I remember rightly, only nineteen visitors
arrived to attend it.
Salisbury stuck to its tin shanties much longer
than Bulawayo, and never, as the latter place did,
overbuilt itself nor locked up money in bricks
and mortar; in fact, at the present day even,
despite the fact that the town has during the
last twelve months had an unprecedented building
boom, accommodation is very hard to obtain.
From Salisbury we went on to Umtali, where
we camped on the Portuguese border, which runs
just at the back of the town.
By every law of equity the border should be about
fifteen miles farther east, if not at Ma9equece.
The Portuguese had never really beneficially
occupied M'tasa's and Gungunhana's countries
(Manicaland and Gazaland), while a chief
(Makoni, Gouveia's father-in-law) farther north
still defies them. A punitive expedition was once
sent against him by the Portuguese, with the
only result that he took two maxims from them,
which are still in his possession. Part of M'tasa's
territory falls under the Charter, while Gungun-
liana fought the Portuguese for years, vainly
appealing to the British for assistance, until he
was at last captured by treachery and confined
in a dungeon dug in the mud at Mozambique.
In 1891 the Chartered Company's camp at
164 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
Umtali, eighteen miles from Mac^equeee, was
attacked by four hundred Portuguese. Colonel
Heyman was in charge there with some thirty-
seven troopers. The Portuguese were repulsed,
and Heyman moved on to Ma^equece, which he
took, kiUing about forty Portuguese and capturing
nine guns and the Portuguese standard, which
now adorns the wall in the library at Groote
Schuur. Major Pat Forbes wished to move on
by himself to the capture of Beira, armed only
with a big knobkerrie, but he was dissuaded from
attempting this feat of arms. The Portuguese
were very much incensed, and active recruiting
went on (mainly amongst students) in Lisbon.
The most amusing part of the whole affair, how-
ever, was that the Portuguese Minister wrote to
Lord Salisbury and said the trouble was purely
and simply with the Chartered Company, and
requested that Great Britain should not interfere
while the Portuguese sent out a punitive expedition
and took reprisals I A boundary commission was
afterwards appointed, and gave Portugal the
territory up to Umtali, but as the high land
nearly all fell to the Chartered Company they
got the pick of the country.
On our way to Umtali Dr. Jameson's two ponies
were lost, and Grimmer and " John Grootboom,"
who spent so many years with F. C. Selous, went
after them and caught us up with them a few
days afterwards. We were now travelling with
two wagonettes and four riding-horses, and at
Umtali purchased two more horses. On the road
was a police camp, in charge of which was an
1 897] A FAIR DRAW 165
officer of police whom Rhodes wished to avoid.
We therefore camped three miles from it, and, in-
spanning at midnight, passed it in darkness. At
the next telegraph -station Rhodes wired to the
officer some instructions, the wire commencing,
" So sorry to have missed you ! " It was dusk
as we neared Umtali, and Rhodes pretended to
be asleep in the fore part of a wagonette, while
Grimmer and I sat facing him at the back. He
dreaded a demonstration on his entry, and so
purposely delayed, to ensure getting in after dark.
Grimmer and I had arranged to " draw " him,
and as he lay with his eyes closed I said, " Jack,
it will be no use sticking that flag up now, as it
will be dark before we get in, and they will not
know we have arrived." "Oh, that's all right,"
said Grimmer, as prearranged ; "I got hold of
a war-rocket at the police camp, and when we
get to the ridge above Umtali I'll loose it off,
and they're sure to know." Just then Rhodes,
who had taken in every word, jumped up, and,
glaring at us, howled out, " I'm damned if you
do I " He immediately saw that he had been
drawn, and amid our shouts of laughter lay down
again, growling, " I suppose you think you're
funny."
We stayed some days at Umtali, where there
were grievances to be looked into. Some time
before the site of the town had been altered, but
just as people were settling down, it was found
that a deviation in the railway-line from Beira
to Salisbury was necessary to avoid the Christmas
Pass, and the line would pass about ten miles
166 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
east of the town. As the railway could not be
brought over the pass to the town, the obvious
remedy was to take the town to the railway, and
a fresh site was therefore laid out at the other
side of the mountain crossed by the pass, and
this is now Umtali. In 1897 the change was
in progress, and people who had owned stands
and built in Old Umtali, as it was known, were
given other stands in the new township, and com-
pensated for their buildings, etc. This compensa-
tion was, as usual, the subject of bickering.
From Umtali we went on to Inyanga, with
wagonettes and riding-horses, and Rhodes was in
most exuberant spirits as we reached the higher
altitudes. " The Sanatorium of Rhodesia " he
called Inyanga, and it was a revelation to any one
who had only been in the lower country. It was
August, and still cold, but at Inyanga, 6,000 feet
above the sea, it was freezing. While we were
there Rhodes completed the purchase of the farms,
some 81,000 morgen, for £19,500 I think the
figures were. On the journey he rode up one little
hill after another, and often climbed up on foot,
which, in that high altitude, may have conduced to
the severity of the attack of heart trouble which
assailed him later on. About thirty-five miles from
Umtali an altitude of 5,000 feet is reached, and the
veld undergoes a remarkable change, the country
resembling the highlands of British-East Africa.
The ground is covered with short grass, which is
a welcome change from the rank tambookie^ of
* Tambookie — a very coarse, reed-like grass. When the first shoots
appear, it affords good grazing for cattle, but soon becomes too coarse.
1 897] INYANGA 167
the lower veld ; bracken grows luxuriantly, and
there were plenty of blackberries and everlastings.^
Rhodes gathered a lot of the latter, and stuck them
in a sort of crown in his hat-band.
Near the homestead the altitude is about 6,000
feet, rising towards Inyanga Mountain to 8,200 feet.
The cold at this height is intense in winter, and
in the early mornings a biting east wind prevails
and a soaking Scotch mist drives before it. To-
wards the east the country drops sheer away into
the low-lying Portuguese territory, and a splendid
vista unfolds itself from the top of the Pungwe
Falls, the source of the Pungwe River.^ There
is a great scarcity of timber, wood for fuel even
being most difficult to get, but on the summit of
Inyanga Mountain is a forest of cedars said to
be the only cedars south of the Line. Numerous
perennial streams of clear water intersect the
hills, and ancient furrows, or water-leadings from
these, give evidence that at some time or other
a great part of the land was under irrigation.
The furrows are well made, and only want clean-
ing out to make them capable of service ; while
the levels are worked out with mathematical
precision. Some of the furrows can be traced for
distances of three or four miles, and the water
supply for the homestead, orchard, and garden is
carried in one of them. On the hillsides along
the streams shallow pits — possibly prospects for
* Everlasting — immortelle — the emblematic flower of the Cape
Colony.
^ The Pungwe runs into the sea at Beira^ where it assumes the
dimensions of a navigable river. At Inyanga it is a trickling stream.
The falls are from 300 to 400 feet high.
168 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
alluvial gold — abound. Scattered about are re-
mains of old forges, but it is uncertain what
metal was worked. Good indications of tin have
been found, but the farms were long ago declared
a reserved area against prospecting. We ploughed
up an old well-made retort, which contained several
specks of gold, and which is now at Groote Schuur.
A few miles from the homestead the ruins of
the dwellings of former inhabitants abound, but
although some have been cleared out and excava-
tions made, nothing has been found to furnish a
clue to their identity, and, as usual, the Phoenicians
are credited with the building. These ruins are all
situated on kopjes, and extend for miles in unbroken
sequence. The kopjes are all terraced off with
rough-hewn stones, and on the summit of each a
round paved pit exists. The pits are about 12 feet
deep and 10 feet in diameter, and are roughly
paved, sides and bottom, with stones. At the
bottom of each pit is a tunnel, just big enough for
a man to crawl through, which has its exit in an
archway on one of the terraces. We used to speak
of them as grain-pits, but it is impossible to deter-
mine what they were actually used for : a possible
theory is that slaves were confined in them, being
driven through the tunnel into the pit, the top of
which was probably covered over with timber, and
the mouth of the tunnel could easily be closed.
This is more or less borne out by the fact that
these tunnels are none of them straight, but built
in a curve, so no concentrated force could be
applied to a stone or other obstruction placed
against the mouth of the tunnel.
1 897] A LION STORY 169
From Inyanga the mountains stretch through
Umtah into Gazaland, which was occupied and
settled by the Moodies, who founded Melsetter.
The country round Melsetter is very similar to
Inyanga, and similar ruins of ancient habitations
have been found there to those that exist at*
Inyanga. On arrival at the homestead, which was
a little stone house with four rooms, Rhodes imme-
diately started ploughing. He sent me off with a
wagonette to Umtali, and I brought up a number
of young apple and other deciduous trees, which
Grimmer and I planted. The apples seem to have
thriven best, and although I have not been to
Inyanga since, 1 have seen beautiful fruit from
those trees exhibited for sale in Salisbury.
While we were at Inyanga I used to ride down
to Umtali to get the mail, and on my way back
on one occasion my horse died of horse-sickness,
and I had to carry my saddle and bridle, with a
big bag of letters and papers, for thirty miles.
The only thing Rhodes said on my arrival at the
camp was, " Why haven't you got a copy of ' The
Times ' ? " He little knew how near I was to
throwing the whole lot over the Pungwe Falls !
On this trip I took no rifle or revolver, and on my
way down was followed for two hours in the dark
and in pouring rain by a lion, that could not have
been more than a few feet from me. I could smell
the brute in the grass at my side. After the two
hours I got distinctly nervous, my only weapon
being the stirrup-irons, which I carried by the
leathers. My horse was knocked up, and when he
scented the lion merely stumbled after me for a
170 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
few yards and then stopped with a sigh. Then the
lion would swish, swish through the grass up to
us, and again we'd get on a few yards. At last I
saw the light of a camp fire, and, abandoning the
horse, I ran for it. I found it was the camp of one
of the Telegraph Construction party. I remained
there that night, and in the early morning found
my horse outside making a meal off the roof of
the little grass shelter. On my return, two days
later, I found two lion skins pegged out to dry
at the camp.
In the meantime Dr. Jameson had made his
way over the Inyanga Mountains to Tete on the
Zambesi, and arranged a contract for construction
towards the south. Cables were sent, diverting
some of the material, and the remainder of the
construction was given under contract to an Umtali
man, and the work was speedily completed.
While at Tete Dr. Jameson purchased and de-
spatched to Inyanga a number of goats and about
three hundred head of cattle. These were very
wild, and Rhodes took great delight in watching
Grimmer and me trying to break them in. Our
efforts generally ended up in our shooting the ox.
Jameson wired that he was returning via Chinde and
Beira, and in the meantime Rhodes started aihng.
We thought at first that it was a mere attack of
fever, but he got worse and worse. He did not
take much care of himself either, but would lie
under the blankets until in a bath of perspiration,
then jump up, strip himself stark naked, and
expose himself to the draught from door and win-
dow. He would not allow us to send for a doctor,
1 897] ILLNESS 171
saying that when Jameson arrived he would be all
right. At last, however, on our own responsibility,
we sent John Grootboom off on the best horse
we had (a big sixteen-hand Australian Rhodes
had just bought for me), and he returned in two
days with a doctor, who gave him much relief.
Grootboom killed my horse by overriding him, and
the animal was shot in Umtali. Jameson returned
a few days later, and Rhodes was soon on the
way to recovery. When the Umtali doctor left,
Rhodes asked him what the prescription was he
had given him. He mentioned, among other
things, digitalis. " Ah, yes," said " the Old Man,"
"that's the stuff; make a note of that, Le Sueur,
and get a supply."
At Inyanga Grimmer was bitten in the face by
a scorpion or spider, and his face swelled up to huge
dimensions. Rhodes was greatly concerned, and
sat with him all day, and had everything moved out
of the room, which he ordered to be scrubbed out
with disinfectant from floor to ceiling. Shortly
afterwards Grimmer had an attack of fever with
an enlarged spleen. Rhodes hardly left his side,
and although he pretended to be chaffing him all
the time, he was much upset. There he sat with a
basin of vinegar, with which he was bathing Jack's
feet in the fond conceit that he was doing him a
lot of good. Before Jameson's return Rhodes was
really convalescing, and became very irritable.
One morning I went into his room, and he made
me feel his pulse and his heart, which was palpitat-
ing. As a matter of fact, one could count his pulse-
beats without touching him, as he had a lump
172 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
the size of a pea on the inside of his left wrist,
which he was very fond of watching and examin-
ing. 1 said that I did not think that he need
worry about the palpitations, as these might be
caused by his liver being out of order or by
eating something which had disagreed with him.
He flew into a wicked temper, and told me to
get out of his sight. " You only come in here
to annoy me," he said, "and I wish you'd keep
away altogether." "All right," I rephed, "I'll
go away altogether." I went off, and getting two
horses and some boys together, I took my rifle and
went over the Inyanga Mountain and into Portu-
guese territory, where I had excellent sport. After
a week or so I got tired of being alone ; the rains
were heavy, and I made for the homestead. I
arrived at midnight on the tenth day, and quietly
entered Jack Grimmer's room, which was next to
" the Old Man's." "Hullo, how is * the Old Man ' ? "
I said. " Oh, he is all right," said Jack, laughing ;
"but you should have seen his face when I told
him that you had gone." " Why, what happened ? "
I asked. " Well, just after you left," said Grimmer,
" I went in to see him, and found him in a snorting
temper. Of course we had a row at once, and he
told me to clear out. I said I'd go to Umtali and
look for a billet, if he'd lend me the white horse."
(This was a horse he had given Grimmer.) " He
told me I could go to the devil as far as he was
concerned, and then I went for him and told him
that he'd better send for some one he could get on
with, because I didn't believe that I'd met any one
yet who would stay with him." He said, "Poof!
1 897] MY RETURN TO INYANGA 173
Le Sueur will stay with me ; he won't leave me."
" Then," said Jack, " I burst out laughing, and said,
* Le Sueur ? Why, he's gone. He went two
hours ago.' * The Old Man ' sat up and said,
* What ! where's he gone to ? ' I told him I hadn't
the least idea, but that you had packed all your kit
and gone oiF without even saying * good-bye ' to
me." Just then Rhodes, probably awakened by
our talking and laughing, walked in in his pyjamas,
and, rubbing himself in front in his characteristic
way, he said, with his little whine, " H-e-e-e ! I
knew you'd come back ! 1 knew you'd come back.
Didn't I say so, Grimmer ? " But Grimmer was
rolling over with laughter, and with a snort * the
Old Man ' went back to bed. I turned in on the
floor in Grimmer's room, and Peace reigned in the
morning. This was towards the end of October,
and Rhodes was bombarded by wires, inquiring
whether he intended to be present at the railway
opening at Bulawayo on November 4. He did
not intend to go, but made a plausible excuse.
Anxious inquiries as to his health were also
reaching us in scores, and these had to be replied
to in such a way as not to cause alarm nor possibly
affect the Market. Numbers of telegrams were
accordingly sent to the effect that he had been
laid up, and was convalescing from a slight attack
of fever, and that he did not think he could stand
the fatigue of the coach journey from Inyanga to
Bulawayo — a matter of five hundred miles. He
read with keen interest, however, the reports of the
proceedings and speeches, and was most impressed
with Sir Arthur Lawley's speech and his reference
174 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
to the march of Cambyses into Egypt. " I didn't
think," said he, " he knew anything about Cam-
byses."
While at Inyanga Rhodes was visited by quite
a number of people, who made light of the sixty-
mile drive or ride from Umtali. Amongst them
was the late Mr. Gambier Bolton, the zoologist
and wild-animal photographer, and he spent a few
days at Inyanga.
We moved down from Inyanga to Umtali at
the beginning of November, and camped there,
awaiting Lord (then Sir Alfred) Milner, who had
been to the Bulawayo Railway opening. Mr.
Hayes Fisher, M.P., also came down from Bula-
wayo to Umtali, and spent a few days with us.
Grimmer was left behind at Inyanga to take
charge of the farms, and from Umtali we sent him
up two wagonettes of stores in charge of Cape
ploughboys. Grimmer wrote down afterwards,
and said the wagonettes had turned up with
nothing very much, except about 1 1 cwt. of niggers.
John Grootboom, beloved of Selous, was given
£lOO to go up to Bulawayo to fetch his wives,
donkeys, etc., as he said he wanted to settle at
Inyanga ; but he never returned, and has, I be-
lieve, settled down as a big chief north of the
Zambesi. From Umtali Rhodes cabled to Alfred
Beit, and asked him to hire a yacht and accom-
pany him to Japan. He also wrote to him, saying,
" You and I have never seen the world, and we
should see it before we die." He was also anxious
for Mr. Harry Escombe, Premier of Natal, to
accompany him. The proposed tour fell through,
1 897] A RAND CAPITALIST 175
however, and all three are dead. While at Uintali
Mr. E. Marks, of Messrs. Lewis & Marks of
Vereeniging, came up in connection with a ranch-
ing scheme. Rhodes told me to take him to
Inyanga, and we went up. Marks made me rather
nervous, as he would not believe the rebellion was
all over, although the natives had not been dis-
armed, and he sat in the cart with loaded rifle,
swearing that he would shoot any native he saw
with a gun. We got through without any trouble,
however. Marks had a good look round Inyanga,
and then made an application for a free grant of
200,000 morgen of ground in blocks of not less
than 50,000 morgen. As a quid pro quo for the
free grant he undertook to spend a considerable
sum in stock, implements, etc., and especially to
experiment in horsebreeding. The matter was
referred to the Legislative Council, but the pro-
posal was rejected. It was while we were camped
here in November that Rhodes was approached
by the survivors of the ill-fated Moodie "trek,"
who occupied Melsetter, and in view of the hard-
ships endured by them the story of their trek as
related by Mrs. Dunbar Moodie may not be
uninteresting.
The Occupation of Melsetter
In 1892 Rhodes was approached by the late
Thomas Moodie and his son-in-law, Dunbar
Moodie, with a view to his taking an expedition
or "trek" into Gazaland, then under the sway
of Gungunhana, the Shangaan chief, who was at
176 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
war with the Portuguese. An agreement was
made under which, if the task were undertaken,
a farm would be given to Thomas Moodie and
a farm of 3,000 morgen free of occupation ^ to each
of his sons. He had twelve children, eight of
them sons, and all of them accompanied the trek,
which started in May 1892, with about seventy-
white people. Rations, arms, and ammunition
were provided by the Chartered Company at Tuli,
but at Victoria a number of the intending " trek-
kers," discovering that there was no road to their
objective, Melsetter in Gazaland, and that the
nearest town was Umtali, one hundred miles away,
decided to remain where they were. The rest,
with the spirit of the old Voor-trekkers ^ and the
land-hunger strong within them, went on. After
having been six months on trek the rainy season
set in, and the little band began to suffer from
fever. As they had to cut a road, they would at
times "laager up,"^ and, leaving the women and
children, the men would go on ahead cutting a
road and selecting suitable spots in the mountain
range for the ascent of the wagons. Moodie
pushed on to the Sabi River, blazing a track on
^ The occupation clause has been the subject of much bitter dispute,
as grants of farms were made by the Chartered Company on the con-
dition that the farm was occupied or otherwise confiscated. It was
looked upon as a flaw in the title, as most recipients of farms could not
possibly occupy.
* Voor-trekkers — the name given to the early Boers, who, impatient
of British or any other authority, trekked across the Vaal River, and
founded the South African Republic.
^ Laager up — camp : a laager is, properly speaking-, a zareba for pur-
poses of defence, when wagons were outspanned in a circle, and the
spaces between them filled with thorn-bush to ward off the attacks of
savages or wild animals.
1892] MELSETTER TREK 177
the trees. At this time they were only making
two miles a day, as most of their cattle died,
some from foot-and-mouth disease, others from
eating a poisonous plant ; and by this time, too,
their tents, tarpaulins, etc., were worn out. Before
reaching the Sabi they encountered long, sandy
tracts, and, had it not been for the discovery of
a tuberous root, they would have perished of thirst.
To add to their hardships the children began to
sicken, and the two women (Mrs. Thomas Moodie
and Mrs. Dunbar Moodie) had their hands full in
attending to the wants of the sufferers. Further-
more they were constantly attacked by lions and
wolves,^ and their dogs were taken one by one.
They now had only two wagons left, and so few
animals that one wagon had to be brought on to
the outspan, and the oxen sent back for the other.
Horse-sickness took the horses, and nothing could
be done for them. The dumb beasts would come
up to the wagons as if asking for help, and there
lie down and die. The members of the trek be-
came discontented, and, forgetful of the fact that
all were enduring the same hardships, as was
natural accused the leaders of misleading them.
The Sabi was reached at length, and crossed
where it is 1,000 yards wide, 1,700 feet above
the sea, and thirty-five miles from their destina-
tion. On the day of the crossing only four adults
and two children were well.
They had now to negotiate the mountain range,
^ Wolves — the South African "wolf" is a large species of hyaena,
or hunting-dog^ and hunts in packs. At certain seasons of the year
they are extremely vicious and dangerous.
13
178 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [cH. viil
where they encountered huge trees, which had to
be removed with dynamite, and when the dyna-
mite was exhausted great boulders had to be
broken up with hammers. The sick were ex-
hausted with the heat, and, burning with fever,
would ask for cool water, but there was nothing
but tepid, muddy water to allay the pangs of
thirst/ Christmas Day was now at hand, and more
of them took ill — even the leader, Thomas Moodie,
had to be helped on and off his horse. They now
discovered tsetse-fly ahead, and they had to halt
until a road could be made through the fly belt,
but in spite of all efforts some of the cattle,
including the best cows, were stung and after-
wards died.^ The sick would try to walk, but
fall faint, weary, and weak, and their groans and
the cries of the children were heartrending as
they were thrown and jolted about in the wagons.
At last, after eight months' trekking, they reached
the place they called Waterfall on January 3,
1893, in country the foot of white man had not
trod before. Provisions were exhausted, bread
was a luxury, sugar an unknown thing, and stimu-
lants counted and administered in teaspoonfuls.
Dunbar Moodie, being the only able-bodied man,
went out to try and get some game, but returned
after many days on foot, his horse having died
of horse-sickness. They were at last in the
country they were to settle in — the Moodie family
^ They were prepared to face all manner of hardships if only the
young sons could become the landowners — such is the love of land
amongst the Dutch.
^ Animals stung by tsetse generally die after the rains. They grow
poorer and poorer^ and have all the appearance of dying of poverty.
1893] MOODIES' HARDSHIPS 179
of fourteen, Thomas Moodie and his wife, ten
children, and two friends, who alone were left
of those who set out with them. The new country
spread out in open plains, and the air was cool —
a very welcome change after being hemmed in
by the thick bush of the low country. Dunbar
Moodie made his way to Umtali through one
hundred miles of unknown country, and Rhodes
gave him a cheque for £200, which provided
provisions for the party even at famine rates.
Later on Moodie also went to Salisbury, and
was appointed representative of the Chartered
Company for Melsetter and Gazaland. The first
season was a good one, and more or less established
them. Several new settlers arrived, and an
American mission was established. On April 27,
1893, however, Thomas Moodie, worn out with
hardships, died. A rough coffin was made out of
the sides of a wagon, and as there were no whites
natives carried his remains to their last resting-
place.
A demand was now made by the Chartered
Company for quit-rent on the farms. As there
was no possible hope of earning money, an appeal
was made for remission, and Thomas Moodie was
sure to the last that Rhodes would assist in the
matter. His faith was not misplaced, as Rhodes
granted a farm quit-rent free to Mrs. Moodie. In
the meantime Dunbar Moodie was continually
harassed by the Portuguese and Gungunhana. A
Portuguese commandant came up with fifteen
soldiers to arrest him, but Moodie, with two native
police, put him across the border.
180 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [cH. viii
The youngest Moodie boy then died. Old Mrs.
Moodie began to get distracted, and would wander
away and be found crooning at the graves.
About a hundred settlers came in, and, arriving
exhausted and half-starved, they congregated at
the Moodies', who gave them the little they had ;
but over twenty of the new-comers died— most
of simple starvation. Of one family four young
orphans were left, the parents having starved to
death. Dunbar Moodie undertook another journey
to Salisbury, and food was then sent out and sold
to the settlers. The prospective settlers, who
came out to select farms, were the guests of the
Moodies, who were, however, allowed £ 10 for each
farm sold. Two native police were stationed at
Melsetter for the protection of the settlers, and
Portuguese companies and Portuguese had con-
stantly to be ejected. The Moodies then had to
feed and mount the settlers, who turned out as
burghers, and who would also demand payment
for their services. A Portuguese expedition came
up to hoist their flag and take possession ; and in
order to feed some twenty burghers, who went
down and intercepted them, Dunbar Moodie sold
some flint-lock guns, and for this he was afterwards
arrested and marched a prisoner through the
country, but released on bail. He was then
Administrator, Postmaster, J. P., Native Com-
missioner— in fact, Pooh Bah. Dunbar Moodie
made a road to Umtali, but the exposure and many
hardships ruined his health. A grant of nine farms
was made to him, but only on the same terms as
ordinary settlers. A good many settlers now left
1 895] MOODIES' HARDSHIPS 181
Melsetter, and roundly abused Moodie in the Press
for having misled them and lured them to
destruction. In 1895 Mrs. Thomas Moodie had
to leave the country, ruined in health and hav-
ing lost all she had. Four sons remained, one
of twenty-two, one of twenty, and twins of
fifteen.
A magistrate was appointed in 1895, and he seems
to have made himself very obnoxious. His first
act was to arrest Dunbar Moodie for gun-running
(the matter of the flint-lock guns), he removed the
township from Moodie's farm to a spot fifty miles
off, and took the Moodies' native servants to carry
his friends in "machelas."^ Mrs. Dunbar Moodie
had now two children, whom she had named Cecil
John and Leander Starr Jameson. In August
1896 some fifty oxen of the Moodies were com-
mandeered^ at £12 a head without a valuation by
anybody, when in Umtali unsalted^ cattle were
fetching from £16 to £20 a head. The Moodies
protested, but were assured by the Administrator
that they were being fairly, if not liberally, treated.
In January 1897 Mrs. Dunbar Moodie's two
children fell ill, and shortly afterwards her husband.
Then her youngest child was born, no other white
person being near. When her baby was a few
* Machela — a hammock swung on a tough bamboo with a shelter
from the sun^ and carried by four to eight boys — a means of transport
much favoured by the Portuguese.
^ Commandeer — to requisition ; the term became familiar during the
Boer War of '99.
' ''^ Salted cattle." As horses are said to be salted after >p.ving had
horse-sickness, so cattle are said to be salted on recovering from
rinderpest, red-water, or lung-sickness, whichever they are supposed
to be salted against.
182 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
weeks old, her husband died. On his deathbed he
wrote his will, but there were no witnesses to sign
it. The woman was alone with her dead and sick,
and the will was declared worthless.
She decided to go to the Mission Station in
search of medical attendance for her children, and
with these sick children and a baby in arms she
walked the twenty miles in the burning tropical
sun. Locusts then swept off her crops and rinder-
pest carried off all cattle ; and, to crown all, Mrs.
Moodie, the widow, received a letter from the
Chartered Company to the effect that all her land,
with the exception of the farm she was living on,
was confiscated on account of non-occupation —
this after paying £54 annually since 1893 and
having the farms surveyed by order of the
Company. On his deathbed her husband ad-
jured her to see Rhodes about the cattle com-
mandeered. To the last he pinned his faith on
Rhodes's sense of justice. In Mrs. Dunbar
Moodie's own words, " After my land was taken
after all our wanderings and trials, with dishevelled
hair and fever-stricken, I often went to his grave
and called for help — called him, but he did not
come. I could get nobody to live with me, and
was there, in that lonely wilderness, with my little
one stricken, smitten of God and afflicted and
forsaken by man."
In 1897 two of the early settlers remained in
Melsetter. Mr. Moodie applied for one of their
old farms adjoining the new township, and offered
to give up some of their other land in exchange,
but the application was refused, and so those who
1 8971 NATIVE'S RUNNING PROWESS 183
occupied Gazaland and established Melsetter, and
repelled the Portuguese, had to be content with
their farm fifty miles away from their township.
Mrs. Moodie, as I have said, came to see Rhodes
when we were at Umtali in November 1897, and
he promised that the land should be granted to her
free of the occupation clause.
The Austrian scientist, Dr. Schlichter, made
himself known here to Rhodes, and he accom-
panied us to Salisbury. He afterwards returned
to Inyanga and excavated several of the pits in
the ruins in the district, but the only discovery he
made was a small inscription on a stone in one of
the tunnels. It was sent to Vienna, but no one
has been able to decipher it. My own idea is that
it was a hoax. We travelled through quickly to
Salisbury after Rhodes had had two or three days'
discussion with Sir Alfred Milner. We had to
leave one of our Matabele servants behind, as there
was not room for him on the coach ; and he was
terrified out of his wits, as in IiO Bengula's days he
had been down raiding the Mashonas in this part
of the country, so he was fearful of being recog-
nized and slaughtered by some of his old friends.
To my surprise, when our coach drove up to
Government House in Salisbury, the boy was
seated on the doorstep, having left Umtali at the
same time as we did, and travelled the whole dis-
tance (150 miles) on foot in two days and one
night. At Salisbury Rhodes was again besieged
by callers and suppliants of all sorts, but he was not
quite so free with his purse-strings this time, as he
thought he had somewhat " outrun the constable."
184 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
I had an amusing experience here. A circus had
arrived and was performing nightly, and the pro-
prietor came up and asked for Mr. Rhodes's patron-
age. I saw " the Old Man," and he agreed to go
the following night at eight o'clock. At dinner
the next night he had two or three guests, and I
reminded him of his engagement at eight, which
the clock was just striking. " Oh," said he, " 1
feel too ill to go out. You get one or two friends
and go down." I hurriedly got a friend, and we
arrived at the circus a quarter of an hour late.
The show had been kept waiting, but at the tent
entrance I saw the anxious face of the proprietor.
As soon as he saw me, he concluded that Rhodes
had arrived, and hurried off; and as I walked into
the royal box, which had been profusely decorated
with Union Jacks, the audience rose like one man,
and the orchestra burst into the strains of the
" National Anthem." The proprietor may have
been frantic, but I merely bowed my acknowledg-
ments, at which the cheering was louder than ever.
However, I don't crave for a second experience
of the same sort, and, anyhow, I am not sure now
whether I, the audience, or the orchestra was guilty
of lese-majeste,
Christmas 1897 Rhodes spent at the Jesuit
Mission Station at Chishawasha, and returned
highly pleased with all he had seen there. I did
not accompany him, as I was down with my first
attack of fever ; nor was I encouraged by one of
the boys remarking after he had peered at me for
a minute or two over the bed-rails, " Yah, when
the sun dies you will be finish too ! "
1898] GWEI.O AGAIN 185
Another boy came in to me here in a state of
great indignation, and showed me half a loaf of
bread which he said " the Old Man " had given him
as a Christmas-box. He was most dissatisfied, and
said he went in and asked for a Christmas-box
while Rhodes was at breakfast, and that Rhodes
had handed to him the first thing that came to
hand — the half-loaf of bread — and said, " I gif
John Christmas-bokesi. Wat you tink, Metcalfe ? "
repeating the latter as he had so often heard
Rhodes say it.
Rhodes was anxious to get away, and the date
of our departure was kept very quiet — in fact, I
only engaged the special coach the night before we
left. He fixed on the morning of December 31
(for which night he had accepted an invitation
to a fancy-dress ball), and I therefore made all
sorts of reckless engagements and appointments
for the first week in the New Year, and at day-
light we set off for the south, Sir Charles Metcalfe
accompanying us. £125 was charged in those
days for a special coach from Salisbury to Bulawayo
— about three hundred miles. About forty miles
from Gwelo we passed a small police outpost, and
two troopers were waiting for the coach ; one of
them was bad with fever and wanted to go to
Gwelo Hospital. " By all means put him in the
coach," said Rhodes. He then gave the other
troopers some books and papers. I climbed to
the top of the coach, which was not pleasant, as it
was pouring with rain, and I had to use Tony as a
shelter — my mackintosh having gone the way of
all my kit — given away by Rhodes to some native
186 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
— and we started off. Not far from Gwelo we got
stuck in a vlei, and everything had to be off-loaded
from the coach while we, except the sick trooper,
tramped to a wayside store, luckily only a mile off.
We arrived at Gwelo late at night, and drove
straight to the hospital, where we deposited the
trooper, and then on to the house of the Civil
Commissioner, where we spent the night. I heard
afterwards that the trooper died four days later.
At Salisbury Rhodes advanced one of the boys
(John Malema— some of the older hands in
Rhodesia will remember him) £10, as he wanted
him to go to Groote Schuur. I knew Malema
lived near Gwelo, and, as I was sure he never
intended to go south, I took the precaution of
locking him in the woodshed that night — nailing
up the door. He managed to break out during
the night, and I have not seen him since.
We were early away next morning, and about
three in the afternoon we saw, from the top of the
coach, a small herd of Tsessebe antelope lying down
on and about the road. Sir Charles Metcalfe had
a shot, but missed, and they went off and stood in
a small clump of trees, which one could easily
get up to by keeping under a razor-back ridge.
Rhodes asked me to go after them, and I took the
old coach-driver's Martini-Henry -450, as 1 had
given my own rifles to Jack Grimmer. I had not
gone two hundred yards ere I saw the coach start
off with a crack of the whip that frightened the
Tsessebe away. I ran about five hundred yards
across the veld to try and intercept the coach, but
it passed about a hundred yards off, both Rhodes
1898] IN-TRANSIT RATES 187
and Sir Charles Metcalfe shrieking with laughter.
I had no fancy for being left in the veld, and felt
like shooting one of the leading mules, when I saw
the coach stables and store about a mile off, and
let them go on, taking a short cut across a bend
in the road. Rhodes only said I was a fool for
following the buck, as surely I didn't expect to hit
anything with *' that old blunderbuss." 1 showed
him he was wrong though, as the same afternoon I
knocked over a running jackal with it from the
top of the coach at three hundred yards. When
we neared the Bembezi, about twenty-five miles
from Bulawayo, a zebra came cantering up to us,
and ran alongside the mules right up to near N'taba
'Zinduna, and then cantered off as we approached
the store.
We did not remain long at Bulawayo, and
Rhodes spent most of his time, as before, at
the Matoppo Farm. He had a meeting with the
Chambers of Mines and Commerce on the subject
of in-transit rates, and was in constant telegraphic
communication with Sir James Sivewright, Com-
missioner of Railways and Public Works at Cape
Town, on the subject. He determined to go to
Cape Town as soon as possible, as much to settle
this matter as anything. One afternoon he came
home in a more or less vile temper, and I told
him that a member of the Chamber of Commerce
had called to represent that goods intended for
Bechuanaland could take advantage of the in-transit
rate as far as the first station on the Rhodesia rail-
way-line beyond the terminus of the Cape line
(Maf eking), and then by training back at the
188 THROUGH RHODESIA IN 1897-98 [ch. viii
ordinary rate make a considerable saving on what
they would pay if they forwarded direct at the
ordinary rate. I had hardly concluded when he
snapped out, " Well, didn't you tell him the
remedy ? Of course you didn't : tell him that
we shall charge £10 a ton a mile for manufactured
goods coming down country across the border.
Go and tell him now." Then he went and threw
himself on my bed and snorted. It was in this
faculty for instantly grasping a situation and apply-
ing the remedy that he excelled.
The De Beers' travelling-car had been sent up
for him in charge of the little Swiss steward,
" Karl," and arrived after having been more or less
looted by some enterprising sportsmen at Palapye
under pretence of examining the " fire-boxes in the
refrigerator," (I) which contained a supply of liquor
of all sorts. (Palapye being in tea-drinking Khama's
country, the importation into which of any kind of
alcoholic liquor is strictly prohibited, there were
many thirsty souls there who thought the oppor-
tunity too good to be thrown away.)
On our journey south Sir Charles Metcalfe was
on the train, Mr. Hoyle the Traffic Manager, and
later on Mr. Julius Weil. On the day on which
we were due in Kimberley Rhodes bet Mr. Weil
£5 that we would get into Kimberley station
before 7 p.m. I got on to the tender and hustled the
driver, promising him £5 if he got in before seven,
and he made that engine go at a pace that no other
did on that line before, and I doubt if any since.
It was a light train — only the engine and tender,
then a bogie-truck, then the De Beers' car, another
1898] A LOST BET 189
bogie-truck, and a guard's-van. It came on to rain
heavily, which delayed us a lot — in fact, ascending
the river-bank at Fourteen Streams we literally
ploughed through water rushing down, and the
line at Windsorton was under a good eighteen inches
of water. The excitement grew quite intense as we
neared Kimberley, and at a few minutes to seven
we were racing along past the floors,^ and Rhodes
felt his bet won ; but the train slowed down with a
jerk or two as the vacuum-brakes were applied, and
at two minutes to seven the train drew up and
stopped just outside Kimberley station. Rhodes
had lost his bet. The driver got his five-pound
note, but I am afraid that Julius Weil never did.
After a couple of days in Kimberley we went on
to the Cape, where arrived, Rhodes went straight
out to Groote Schuur, and I went on to Cape
Town to see Sir James Sivewright and bring him
up to Groote Schuur to discuss the in-transit rate.
So, no sooner was his little holiday of two days in
the train over, than Rhodes was in harness again
without waste of a minute.
^ Floors — large open paddocks enclosed by high barbed-wire fences,
where the hard diamondiferous rock is spread out to *' weather," in
course of which it softens, and is then treated and put through the
pulsator. Strange to say, diamonds are seldom or never picked up on
the floors.
CHAPTER IX
RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN "
Wherever Rhodes went he had a secretary with
him, who was admitted to his fullest confidence,
and to whom he left a very free hand. He
collected a sort of bodyguard of young men in
whom he was interested, and who were chosen on
account of various and varied qualifications.
Those most closely connected with him at
different times were Neville Pickering, Harry
Currey, R. T. ("Bob") Coryndon, John R.
Grimmer (" Jack "), Harry Palk, PhiHp
(**Flippie") Jourdan, and myself. Of these only
Palk was born out of South Africa.
We were all much more companions than
secretaries in the ordinary sense of the word.
Philip Jourdan was perhaps the nearest approach
to the accepted idea of a private secretary, as he
wrote shorthand (an accomplishment the rest of
us regarded with a sort of awe), and, being rather
delicate, his habits were more sedentary than those
of ours.
I hardly count Dr. Rutherfoord Harris as a
private secretary, as his office w^as more official than
otherwise ; but in his day no one was more in
190
Gordon le Sueur, F.R.G.S., the Author.
IdO]
1892-8] THE "QUEENSTOWN GANG'^ 191
Rhodes's confidence than he, from the inception
of the Charter until he blossomed out into a big
financier, a promoter and director of tramway
companies and a member of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, with a castle in Wales. He was a man of
great capacity, exceedingly shrewd and a staunch
friend, but an implacable enemy. He was severely
heckled when he gave his evidence before the Raid
Commission.
Sir William Milton was for a considerable time
Rhodes's official secretary, when the latter was
Premier of the Cape, and Rhodes justly thought
very highly of his abilities. He brought Sir
William to Rhodesia first as chief secretary to
the Administrator, Lord Grey, just after the Raid.
When Lord Grey retired, the office of Adminis-
trator was split up, and Sir William was appointed
Senior Administrator at Salisbury, Sir Arthur
Lawley filling the office of Deputy at Bulawayo.
On the abolition of the latter office Sir William
was appointed sole Administrator over both pro-
vinces.
There were others of those whom he called
his '* young men," and in whose careers he
took an interest, such as E. Law Brailsford and
J. G. McDonald ; and there were the members
of what he called the " Queenstown Gang,"
including Percy Ross, Harry Huntley, the four
brothers Fynn, and others, who were all farmers
and hailed frori> Queenstown, Cape Colony, or
thereabouts.
In his younger days at Kimberley Rhodes was
on terms of particular friendship with three families
192 RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN" [ch. ix
— the Pickerings, the Curreys, and that of Dr.
Grimmer, and the early friendships he never
forgot. One of the Pickerings, WiUiam, became
secretary and afterwards a director of De Beers,
while Rhodes made Neville, another son, his
private secretary. He was much attached to him,
and on his death at Kimberley he had his body
sent by special train to Port Elizabeth for burial.
By his second will he bequeathed his wealth to
Neville Pickering for use in terms of instructions
he had given him.
Harry Currey, a barrister by profession, is the
son of J. B. Currey, by whom Rhodes was be-
friended in Kimberley. He acted as secretary to
the Consolidated Gold Fields in Johannesburg, but
became dissatisfied, and resumed practice at the
Cape Bar. He developed into a strong supporter
of the Bond Party and a worshipper of John X.
Merriman in opposition to Rhodes, and became
later a member of the Cape Assembly.
His father, J. B. Currey, Rhodes made his agent
at Groote Schuur, and built a house, " Welgelegen,"
for him on the estate, and there he lived with his
family until his death.
R. T. Coryndon was the son of another old
Kimberley friend, Selby Coryndon, and he came
up to Rhodesia as one of " Rhodes 's lambs,"
which was the name given to about a dozen young
fellows who came up from Kimberley in the early
days. Coryndon and Grimmer were the only
two left when Rhodes came across them in 1896.
Rhodes then attached Coryndon to the " body-
guard," and he accompanied him to England.
1896] "BOB" CORYNDON 193
To Bob Coryndon, who has always been a
mighty hunter, belongs the distinction of having
shot one of the few remaining white rhinoceri.
He was commissioned by the Hon. Walter
Rothschild to get one for his museum, and
succeeded. Shortly afterwards Rhodes asked him
whether he would get one for the Cape Town
Museum, and was petrified at Coryndon's ill-
advised reply, "Lord Rothschild paid me £400
to get one." He often referred to it.
When in London, Rhodes, Coryndon, and
Grimmer used to ride every morning in the Park, and
were often accompanied by friends, amongst them
a distinguished heiress. Referring to her one day,
Rhodes said, "She used to ride with me in the
Park in the morning, and, d'you know, Coryndon
thought she came to see him. Of course she
didn't. She came to see me.''
On the completion of a treaty with Lewanika,
king of Barotseland, now known as North-Western
Rhodesia, Coryndon was sent up as representative
of the Chartered Company, and was afterwards
appointed Administrator with the rank of major.
He w^as exceedingly successful in handling his
natives, and has since been appointed Admini-
strator of Swaziland under the British Colonial
Office. He, too, was more of a big-game hunter
than a secretary.
Towards "Jack" Grimmer Rhodes, perhaps,
showed as much affection as to any one. He was
one of a large family, sons and daughters of Dr.
Grimmer of Barkly West, who died during the
siege of Kimberley.
14
194 RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN " [ch. ix
Rhodes never forgot his early friendship with
the Grimmers, and one now holds the important
post of secretary to De Beers ; and he also did a
great deal for the Langes, one of whom married a
Miss Grimmer.
E. Lange accompanied Rhodes through Masho-
naland in 1891, and was subsequently placed in
charge of " Nooitgedacht," one of the finest of the
Rhodes fruit-farms.
Jack Grimmer, another of *' Rhodes's lambs,"
first interviewed Rhodes when he was quite a
youngster, and asked him to be allowed to join
the column of occupation of Mashonaland. He
was then a junior clerk in De Beers, but, somehow,
generally rode or drove the best horse in Kim-
berley. " No," replied Rhodes, " I only want men
with beards."
Jack Grimmer, then having come up with
" the lambs," joined the police, and went through
the 1893 Matabele War, and was, with Coryndon,
attached to Rhodes's " bodyguard " in Mashona-
land in 1896. Rhodes used to say that Grimmer
was the only man he was afraid of, and it is equally
certain that Grimmer was by no means afraid of
him — in fact, to see them together one might
have come to the conclusion that Rhodes was in
charge of a keeper. Grimmer was anything but
an ordinary secretary. His method of dealing
with letters was characteristic. I remember one
man writing to ask if a vacancy had occurred since
his previous application for an appointment, the
reply to which he enclosed. This reply he had
received from Grimmer, and was written on a torn
1896] "JACK'' GRIMMER 195
half-sheet of paper (Grimmer did not believe in
wasting stationery), and read simply :
** Dear Sir,
" In reply to your application Mr. Rhodes
says no.
" Yours faithfully,
"John R. Grimmer."
Rhodes delighted in rousing Grimmer's temper,
but usually got some one else to try and annoy
him. He would chuckle with glee when he found
Grimmer crossed in anything, and often would
pretend to be in a violent rage, but without leaving
the least impression on Grimmer. He simply
maintained an imperturbable smile. On one
occasion Grimmer was sitting reading a newspaper,
which he held before his face, and Rhodes, more
to annoy him than anything else, called him, but
Grimmer took no notice. Then Rhodes called out
again, adding, " I want you to write a letter for
me." Grimmer lowered his paper, and said, " Let
le Sueur do it — I'm busy " ; and went on with his
newspaper. Clearly nothing could be done in such
a case.
When Rhodes went home for . the Raid In-
quiry, he took Bob Coryndon and Jack Grimmer
with him, " and, d'you know," he afterwards said
to me, " Grimmer never showed the slightest
interest in the inquiry. He never came into the
committee-room." He presented Grimmer with
his photograph, on the back of which he wrote
" Your Baas,' C. J. Rhodes."
^ Dutch— "master."
196 RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN'' [ch. ix
On one trip by wagonette from Salisbury to
Umtali Rhodes invited Grimmer and me each
to read Plato's ** Symposium " and then give him
our ideas thereon. Grimmer 's only comment was,
" A lot of damned rot I " and turning over he
went off to sleep. " Ha, ha," said Rhodes, " we can
take Grimmer as quite a good example. The
tractable horse referred to by Socrates is like
Grimmer walking in a garden with a nice girl
and picking roses and shyly giving them to her,
and making pretty speeches ; then there is the
other unruly animal, which is Grimmer with the
lady on the summer-house seat, and that's a very
different picture."
When he felt ill, it was Grimmer he wanted
with him — in fact, he evinced more pleasure in
Grimmer's companionship than in any other.
Although Grimmer was undemonstrative and
phlegmatic, he was devoted to Rhodes and capable
of any sacrifice in his interests. He appeared to
look on Rhodes as a great baby, incapable of being
left to himself, and it was amusing to hear Grimmer
lecture him on his neglect of precaution in the
interests of his health. He cared nothing for
politics, nor to identify himself with Rhodes 's
creations ; he was just a sterling, big-hearted, loyal
friend, deeply attached to " the Old Man," and
inspired by the very highest motives, unsullied by
a mercenary thought, or swayed by the hope of self-
advancement.
That Rhodes appreciated his qualities and devo-
tion is evidenced by the fact that he left him
£10,000 in his will, together with the use of the
I902J DEATH OF GRIMMER 197
Inyanga farms for life, besides making him many-
valuable gifts during lifetime.
Grimmer went up to Inyanga in 1897 to
take charge of the Inyanga farms after he had
returned from England from attending the Raid
Inquiry.
Jourdan had recently joined Rhodes as confi-
dential secretary. He had, like myself, been in
the Cape Civil Service, and while I was in the
Colonial Office he was attached to the Prime
Minister's, which was then a department of the
Colonial Office. Jourdan has related his ex-
periences in his work, and he was perhaps longer
with Rhodes at one spell than any one else.
I replaced him at the beginning of June 1897,
and he went on a voyage to the Canary Islands in
search of health. To him, too, Rhodes left £10,000
— not in his will, but by instruction to his trustees,
to whom he gave a free hand in the disposal of his
estate.
Grimmer did not live long to enjoy his legacy,
as, at Bulawayo at the time of the funeral,
April 1902, he was taken ill with fever, and on
our return to the Cape he went to Muizenberg,
which he left for Caledon at the end of May.
Blackwater fever suddenly attacked him there.
I was wired for, and arrived the day before his
death, which took place on June 5, a little over
two months after Rhodes.
Rhodes did not pay his secretaries exorbitant
salaries ; but then we had little or no expense, as
we lived and travelled with him ; he provided horses,
and in London he went so far as to pay our tailors'
198 RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN '' [cH. ix
bills and supply the cost of theatres, dinners, and so
on, and told me to get any books I wanted from
Hatchard & Co., Piccadilly.
On my proceeding to England with him in 1898,
I had to get a complete outfit, as I had returned
from Rhodesia with practically the clothes I stood
up in, as he had a miserable habit, when he wished to
make one of the natives a present, of going to my
kit-bags and presenting the favoured one with the
first things that came to hand. I suppose that a
dress-coat of mine is now adorning the favourite
wife of some Mashona warrior. Even my rugs
and blankets went, and on the veld he and I had
to share a big sheepskin kaross of his.
On arrival in London, therefore, I had to follow
the colonial custom of buying a silk hat and an
overcoat " off the peg," which would cover one
until clothes could be made. Having to replace
everything, my tailor's bill was naturally heavy,
and when presented to Rhodes he was a bit startled,
and got Jourdan to make and send me a copy of it,
on which he wrote the laconic remark :
ivi
c.;.
k
As to ordinary expenses he kept no account, but
when I required money I would draw a cheque
1 897] LOOSE MONEY 199
from him and tell him when it was exhausted. He
seldom or never carried any money himself, but if
he were going out he would sometimes ask for
a five-pound note, which was as often as not
found crumpled up in his overcoat pocket the
next day.
This was an old outstanding habit of his, as when
he was about to start off from Kimberley to the
Cape, to take his seat in the House of Assembly,
in 1881, he suddenly discovered that he had no
money, and there was a hasty emptying of pockets
by his friends, who had come to see him off, to
provide the necessary funds for his journey to the
Cape.
When I lost money to him at bridge, he would
demand to be paid by cheque, for he would say,
*' If you give me cash, I know you're only giving
me my own money." Needless to say, these
cheques were never cashed. We often had bets,
too, especially at a shoot, on the number of head
we would respectively kill, and if he won he would
demand instant payment.
Whoever was with him as secretary was in his
fullest confidence, and he expressed his thoughts on
men and events in the freest manner.
He had a habit of riding with one at a walking
pace without uttering a word for hours, and then
he would come out with a remark which often
gave one a clue to what had been occupying his
thoughts.
Riding to the Matoppos one day at the usual
four miles an hour, he had not said a word for two
hours, when he suddenly remarked, "Well, le Sueur,
200 RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN " [ch. ix
there is one thing I hope for you, and that is, that
while still a young man you may never have every-
thing you want." I merely answered that the
possibility of that was very remote. Disregarding
the interruption, he went on : " Take myself, for
instance : I am not an old man, and I don't think
there is anything I want. I have been Prime
Minister of the Cape, there is De Beers and the
railways, and there is a big country called after me,
and I have more money than I can spend." You
might ask, " But wouldn't you like to be Prime
Minister again ? " ** Well, I answer you very
fairly — 1 should take it if it were offered to me,
but I certainly don't crave for it."
Harry Palk first attracted Rhodes by his com-
mand of language. Palk was an officer on one of
the Union-Castle steamers, and the boat conveying
Rhodes was a long time in getting alongside, and
Palk was at the head of the gangway. He in-
quired with much profanity why the ship was kept
waiting. He received a reply in tones of awe that
the boat had waited for Mr. Rhodes. Palk then
rapped out with a string of expletives that he did
not care a ha'porth who it was, but that the ship
was to be kept for no one.
Rhodes was highly interested in this emphatic
young man, and so he became one of the " body-
guard." He sent him to stay with Mr. W. T.
Stead, who chose literature for him, saw to his
taking exercise (rowing on the Thames chiefly),
and saw that he learned shorthand. He joined
Rhodes as private secretary and accompanied him
to Rhodesia. Before leaving, however, he married.
1897] A REAL SECRETARY 201
and at Salisbury one day he told Rhodes that he
had to go down country, as his wife was about
to give birth to a child. Rhodes was extremely
annoyed, and really never forgave Palk.
In after-years he said, speaking of him, " Imagine
his leaving me alone at Salisbury with no one to do
my letters, just because his wife was going to have
a baby. Why didn't he tell me before he left?
He must have known, mustn't he ? You ought to
know," turning to a lady sitting next to him, to her
obvious embarrassment, she having a large family
of sons and daughters.
After Rhodes's arrival at Bulawayo in 1897,
Miss Flora Shaw (Lady Lugard) wrote and asked
him if he did not think it was time he had a real
secretary, and recommended a young friend of hers,
whom she wished to send out. She asked him to
simply cable " Yes or No," and Rhodes handed the
letter back to me after I had shown it to him,
saying, " You'd better answer this."
" Really," he once said at Inyanga to Grimmer
and me, " I must get a proper secretary — one who
will treat me with proper respect and call me
* sir.'" We immediately " sirred " him about every
five words until he was heartily sick of it.
He always thought very highly of the late
Edmund Garrett, who was, for some years, editor
of " The Cape Times " and a journalist of remark-
able brilliance.
Rhodes regarded him with much real affection,
though they often had noble rows, for Garrett was
nothing if not independent.
It was amusing sometimes to see Rhodes's look
202 RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN" [ch. ix
of dismay as he scanned one of Garrett's leaders,
which was diametrically opposed to Rhodes's
suggestions to him.
Rhodes had a habit of conveniently mislaying
papers and then calling upon me to produce
them, which it was as much as my life was
worth to do.
On one occasion he had carefully hidden away
in his bedroom some papers relating to De Beers,
just before three of the directors came down to
Groote Schuur to consult him on the matter the
papers dealt with instead of his going to Kimberley.
He severely reprimanded me before them all at
breakfast for failing to find the papers, which he
said he did not remember ever having seen !
While they were all wondering what made Rhodes
stand such carelessness in his secretary, the papers
were opportunely produced and brought to me by
his valet, who said, with a broad grin on his face,
he had found the unopened envelope between the
seat and back of one of the chairs.
Shortly afterwards Rhodes came into my office,
where I was sitting, feeling rather sore, and pinching
my ear in his Napoleonic manner, with his well-
known little whine he said, " We — e — el, and what
are you going to do to-day ? D'you want any
money ? "
This was with him a great panacea for our ills.
We often had arguments and stand-up rows, and
his great expression was, when he felt his temper
going, " Now let's talk this over quietly. Don't
lose your temper. Keep calm — keep perfectly
cool."
1 897] "D'YOU WANT ANY MONEY?" 203
After a stormy scene he would seek me out,
especially if he felt that he had not been perfectly
fair, and in an awkward manner want to know
what one had been doing, and pretend to take an
interest in the letters one was writing, and ex-
hibited this by opening one or two that lay ready
addressed for the post. Then he'd say, " How are
you off for money ? D'you want any ? " On one
occasion at the Cape he had severely blown
Grimmer and me up, and we pretended to sulk
(sulkiness he could not stand), and before dinner
he came in to where we sat dejectedly in the
smoking-room. *' I'm going out to dinner," he
said. " What are you going to do ? "
" Oh, nothing," said we.
" Why don't you go to the theatre ? " he
went on.
" We don't want to go ; besides, we can't afford
theatres," said Grimmer with a sigh. Rhodes went
straight off to the office, and, returning with a
cheque for £50, said, " Here, you'd better take
some friends to dinner and the theatre."
His memory was remarkable, but he received
undue credit for some feats of memory — e,g.
when a young fellow was seen approaching the
camp, of whom he had not the faintest recollec-
tion, and he would turn to Grimmer and myself
and say, " Who's this ? " One of us would quickly
explain, ** Oh, that's the young policeman at Fort
Gibbs who wanted a transfer," or whatever it was ;
and as the youngster came up Rhodes would say,
" Well, and do you like the Police any better since
I last saw you at Fort Gibbs ? " and leave the
204 RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN" [ch. ix
young man as pleased as possible at Rhodes's
recollecting him.
Rhodes first met J. G. McDonald when he
went to have a look at the Ayrshire Mine with
Dr. Hans Sauer. McDonald was in charge, and
the story goes that he wanted to know Rhodes's
business when he met him wandering about. I am
not sure that, in ignorance of his identity, he did
.not order him off the property. Anyhow, if he
did, it was just the sort of thing to please " the
Old Man," and he was distinctly taken by the
strenuous " Mac," and he afterwards made him
manager of the Consolidated Gold Fields of South
Africa at Bulawayo, and also gave him charge of
all his local affairs, farms, etc., in Rhodesia.
E. Law Brailsford had been a magistrate in the
Cape Colony, and had been stationed in Rhodes's
old constituency, Barkly West. He had always
been distinguished by independence of spirit and
a splendid disregard of the opinions of others and
les co7ivenances as well.
Although a civil servant, and therefore debarred
from active politics, Brailsford did not find the
Civil Service regulations much of a deterrent in
his strenuous support of Rhodes's candidature.
" A magistrate should be a political eunuch, but in
your case, Brailsford, I'm afraid the operation was
unsuccessful," said Rhodes to him once.
Brailsford, a sound and capable lawyer, and
possessed of excellent judgment, is, like many
others having these qualities, slow to advance an
opinion. " Brailsford has plenty of ideas," said
Rhodes of him, '* but you have to get them out
1 897] *NEW CHUMS'' 205
with a fine tooth-comb." When the magistracy of
SaHsbury became vacant (1898 I think), Rhodes
strongly advised Brailsford's appointment. " I
am sending a really good man," Rhodes wrote.
" This is not a question of finding a billet for
anybody, but he is the right man for the post.
I want Jour dan with me and le Sueur is too
young."
The " Queenstown Gang " were all farmers, and
were nearly all related to one another. Rhodes
settled Harry Huntley on a farm in the Matoppos,
put Percy Ross on to his own farm, while the
Fynns settled at the Bembezi near Bulawayo.
Any youngster who was sent to Rhodes by a
friend, and who wanted to start farming, was sent
to Rhodes's farm and to Ross to be taken care of.
The bodyguard used to forgather at the huts, and
no happier times could have been spent than out
there.
Of course, we had a lot of fun out of the '* new
chums " ; one came out from a very exalted person-
age (his people used to farm near Balmoral, and he
was very, very Scotch). It was the middle of the
wet season, and Ross advised him to start plough-
ing in the heavy black vlei soil below the huts.
We used to watch him from the top of the kopje
struggUng through the mud with the plough and
eighteen oxen. He stood it for nearly three days,
and then went down with fever and exhaustion.
We all went that evening and had a look at him
where he lay in a hut, and Ross took a tape-
measure out of his pocket and began solemnly
to measure him.
206 RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN " [ch. ix
" Whit are ye dae'in ? " asked the Scot. " Oh,
all right — keep quiet," said Ross ; " I'm only
measuring you for your coffin, in case you die."
This nearly terrified the Scot out of his wits, and
in a day or two, when he had recovered, he started
packing up, and said, in broad Scots, " No, no I
I'm going back to Scotland far from here, and I'm
going to take a small farm and a wee wifie, and I'll
not come back to this awful country."
And he left.
Another budding beef king came out, and the
day after he arrived Ross said he'd better take
charge of the game. (There was a number of
antelope waiting to be sent down to Groote
Schuur.) They were half tame, and had halters on
with long riems,^ by which they might be caught
if they escaped from their stalls. The new chum
thought he'd like that, and Ross said he'd better
start next morning and take the water-buck out to
graze. (This water-buck was the wildest of all.)
We all assembled early to see the young man take
his charge out. He went into the stall, which was
in a stable standing in a forty-acre fenced paddock,
and presently out came the water-buck with the
new chum hanging on to the end of the riem
attached to the halter. The buck went straight
across the paddock at about the rate of an express
train, and the youngster was touching ground about
every twenty yards. He, too, went in search of a
more peaceful occupation than farming.
Ross once advertised for a ploughman, and a few
days later about eight foot of Dutchman applied.
^ liiem— rawhide lariat.
1 897] TAKEN ON TRUST 207
Ross had a look at him, and then said, " Can
you fight ? " " No," said the Dutchman, " 1 can't
fight ; but I didn't thought I was got to fight ; I
think I was coming for the ploughing." " No, no —
that's all right," said Ross ; " but I don't want any
fighting man, because one of these days I may have
to chase you oiFthe farm."
A few days later we saw the Dutchman
sprinting towards Bulawayo and Ross after him
with a sjambok.
My Personal Relations
Rhodes always treated me with the greatest
kindness and consideration. He did like having
young men about him, and liked analysing them.
" Oh, 1 can read you like a book," he often said
to me.
When he selected me to go up with him, he was
taking me on chance, for he knew no more about
me from his own knowledge than he would about
any other junior in the office, and even then I was
under a different ministerial head.
I was more or less inexperienced, and probably
in a fair way to getting into a groove, which is the
fate of many civil servants. True, I had done well
at my old college, the Diocesan at Rondebosch, had
headed the list in the Civil Service entrance examina-
tion, and had qualified in law; but having had
a more or less " home-keeping youth " I might
reasonably be expected to have but " homely wit."
He took me on trust, however, just as he did often
take men on trust, and in whom he was almost as
208 RHODES AND HIS '^ YOUNG MEN " [ch. ix
often grievously disappointed. For Rhodes was
not a good judge of men on first sight.
After I had been with him for a few weeks, we
were riding in the Matoppos and met Colonel
Harry White ; and after we had talked for a while
Rhodes turned to Harry White, and smilingly said,
" Well, don't you think he has expanded ? "
He was built of that metal himself — the sterling
metal of those qualities which, even on first acquaint-
ance with a man, rings true. If one went into a
room full of people, when Rhodes was present, one
would be immediately impressed by his personality,
and having once heard him express himself would
eagerly await his next utterances.
Qua myself, I can only say that I was much
attracted by him from the time of our first real
meeting, and I somehow instinctively realized that
he had adopted an artificial manner, and that the
man who spoke to me was not the real Rhodes.
Nor was I wrong ; the man who spoke with the
heart of Cecil Rhodes, as I got to know him, was
the man who wrote, " 1 am so sorry for all your
troubles," and that was the keynote of all Cecil
Rhodes's feeling towards his fellow-creatures — were
they white or coloured, rich or poor, elevated or
debased, culpable or unoffending. He had a
yearning sympathy with them in their troubles,
and an overwhelming desire to be of assistance to
them, and it is therefore I can sum up Rhodes's
religion in his own words: "An effort for the
betterment of one's fellow-beings " ; and he did,
as thousands can testify to-day, practise it in the
alleviation of suffering whithersoever he went.
1897] SYMPATHETIC NATURE m
It is a simple enough matter for any one to say
that he held another in esteem because he acted in
loco parentis to him, as far as providing him with
the necessaries and luxuries of life were concerned,
always bearing in mind the fact that to the
dispenser of these favours the material cost was a
negligible quantity.
But it was when Rhodes came to one and evinced
even a pretended interest in one's affairs that one
felt most attracted by him.
Often one felt, could not help feeling, that one's
little troubles could hold no real interest for him,
knowing that there were matters of moment which
should be occupying his mind at the time, and
therefore, when he, with every sign of genuine
personal interest and concern, ^ave one evidence
that he was sympathetically affected one could not
help being stirred by an appreciative thrill.
How often, even when one's progress in life is
exciting the envy of thousands of one's fellow-
beings, how often do not there come occasions
when one's heart is sick and tired and one feels
the solid support of faith and confidence slipping
from one ? In such moments one could, without
hesitation, turn to Rhodes, who, with no use for
explanations, would by natural intuition discern
one's trouble and diagnose one's complaint, and
without mawkish sentiment or sacrifice of dignity
re-imbue one with the essentials for a fresh per-
spective.
And it was the absolute unquestioning con-
fidence that Rhodes placed in the men whom he
selected for the privilege of assisting in his work
15
glO RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN'' [ch. ix
that made one in turn unhesitatingly follow him
with blind trust, yielding him service and con-
fidently entrusting him with all one's afiPairs, secure
in the knowledge that " Rhodes will see everything
put right."
When Rhodes was ill, he often alternated
between periods of peevishness, fretfulness, and loss
of temper and periods of despondency ; and it was
during the latter, when he used to ask one to sit by
him and hold his hand, or place one's hand upon
his fevered forehead, that one's feeling was perhaps
most stirred by him ; and one had a peculiar
sensation as of an inclination to shield and pro-
tect him.
He was fond of making cutting remarks and
indulging in sarcasm, and really I beheve he spent
some time in thinking out something he could say
that was likely to hurt one's feelings or annoy one.
I, with Grimmer, who was perhaps allowed more
latitude in his manner towards him than any one
of the " bodyguard," soon got to know that he
meant nothing by his most cutting remarks, and
that he was only trying to draw one, and we used
to retaliate by going off into fits of laughter, which
generally made him very angry, and he would glare
at one with a stony stare and then go off with a
grim smile playing about his features.
I have spoken of the circumstances under which
I joined him and of my journey through Rhodesia
with him up to the time of our return to Groote
Schuur. While here at this time I received an
offer of appointment as private secretary to Mr.
Harry Escombe, Prime Minister of Natal. I
1898] IN ENGLAND 211
immediately told Rhodes of it, and he said, " Well,
you'd better take it. You'll do much better with
him than in anything I intend to offer you." I
decided against his judgment, however.
We sailed for England on the " Tantallon Castle "
on March 17, 1898. I spent most of my time on
this, my first, voyage to England, translating some
Dutch newspapers which Adriaan Hofmeyr had
given Rhodes, but which translations he never read.
A number of friends came down to meet Rhodes,
and we went up to London in the afternoon. On
the journey up he wanted some tea, and told me to
call a porter at one of the stations and order a tea-
basket — " that is," he added, " if you can make him
understand your English." We went straight up
to the Burlington Hotel in Cork Street, where he
always stayed, and that same night he had a
meeting in his rooms.
He did not intend to remain long in England,
and here again he asked me whether I should like
to go to a university and take a medical degree.
I declined, as I thought that I was too old. (I
was twenty-three.)
Rhodes sailed for the Cape towards the end of
May, leaving me behind to undergo an operation
on the ear, and I came out in August. A friend,
on his return, asked him what the matter was with
me, and he replied, " Oh, the distractions of London
were a little too much for him."
He was then at Kimberley, Jourdan with him,
and he wired me to go to Bulawayo, where I
was to take a magistracy ; and, probably with
the tailor's bill before him and a matter of £60 I
212 RHODES AND HIS « YOUNG MEN " [ch. ix
had expended in books, he wrote and said he
hoped I would " soon once again learn the value
of a sovereign."
I went straight through to Bulawayo, and as the
train only stopped for a few minutes at Kimberley
I did not stop to see Rhodes, and a few days later
he wrote to me :
" Kimberley, 1898.
" Dear le Sueur,
" You should have come to see me when you
passed through. Jourdan told me he had arranged
with you. You should learn shorthand. I am
seeing to your appointment.
" Yours,
"C. J. Rhodes."
The arrangement with Jourdan was that we
should exchange turn and turn about, he going to a
magistracy at Salisbury, when I replaced him with
Rhodes.
Later in the year I wrote to Rhodes and com-
plained about my salary, and he wrote me the
following :
"Dear le Sueur,
" I send you £250. See that you pay your
debts.
" Yours,
" C. J. Rhodes."
A friend remarked on this afterwards, and
Rhodes said, " Oh, I spoilt him, and I suppose I've
got to pay for it."
In the beginning of 1900 I got a severe attack of
illness, had spent some weary months in Bulawayo
Hospital, and had been advised to go down to the
1898] IN YANG A 218
Cape for a change after the hne was open.
Mafeking was relieved on May 17, and just
previous to that I received the following from
Rhodes, who was then on his way through the
country, via Beira and Inyanga :
"Dear le Sueur,
" I am so sorry for all your troubles. I hope
to see you in July. Now just get well and let me
send you your doctor's bill.
" Yours truly,
"C. J. Rhodes."
Enclosed in the letter was a handsome cheque.
I did not, however, see him in July, as I left for
the Cape, and it was not until much later in the
year that I saw him again on his return to Groote
Schuur with Jourdan. Fynn, of Kimberley, and
Jack Grimmer were there at the same time.
Rhodes had purchased a farm near Cape Town,
and had some prize stock there. These he pur-
posed sending to Inyanga, and made a present of
them to Jack Grimmer. He then suggested that
I should go up with Grimmer, as he said the high
veld at Inyanga would suit my health, and he
had me appointed Native Commissioner and
Magistrate at Inyanga. He then suggested the site
where I should build a house and camp, and went
into every detail as to how the house was to be
built, the material, the very shape of the window-
sills. He then gave Grimmer a letter authorizing
him to take any stock he wanted from De Beers at
Kimberley, and after giving us each a cheque for
current expenses we set off with a few truck-loads
214 RHODES AND HIS "YOUNG MEN" [cH. ix
of horses and cattle and two truck-loads of
thoroughbred Yorkshire pigs.
We were joined by Major Pieter van Niekerk,
who did such good service in Rhodesia, and who is
still at Inyanga.
At Kimberley we remained for nearly a month,
and annoyed the De Beers people exceedingly by
selecting the best of their horses and cattle, and then
we started off in a special train for Bulawayo, after
being haled before the Provost Marshal for trying
to run our train out of Kimberley at 2 a.m. when
we had been unable to get a permit to proceed.
At Brussels Siding we were sniped by the
Boers, on whom we took reprisals after running
into Vryburg and returning with an armoured train.
At Mafeking we detrained the cattle (over
seventy in number) to stretch their legs, and we
had just corralled the horses, which numbered
twenty-seven, and w^ere nearly all thoroughbred
mares, when a frightful hailstorm came on. Hail-
stones the size of hens' eggs smashed through
corrugated iron, stripped green fruit, leaves, and
even the bark off the trees, and of course stampeded
the cattle, who rushed through the native stad^
wdth cyclonic effect. We took cover under a
railway truck, and when the storm abated horses
were hastily saddled, but the cattle were not
rounded up until after four hours' hard riding.
Entraining again, we went on without mishap,
except that the pigs ate through the netting which
covered their open trucks and jumped out all
^ Stad — Dutch for township, settlement. During the siege Eloff
got into the stad and burnt it^ and was captured there.
i90o] I REJOIN RHODES 215
the way through Bechuanaland, some breaking
their necks, others their legs, but most of them
landed safely ; and though we got our rifles out
and had pot shots at them, the majority got
away, and I expect by now have established a
good strain of Yorkshires in Bechuanaland. Of
the one hundred and twenty we started with only
forty reached Bulawayo.
Arrived at Bulawayo, I was detained there to
try an important case, and Jack Grimmer and van
Niekerk went on by road.
None of the horses reached Inyanga, all dying
of horse-sickness, and only about half the cattle
survived.
My health failing again, Rhodes then sent me to
England for treatment, and I remained in London
until he arrived there.
While here the doctors advised me to go to the
Continent, and I wrote to Rhodes suggesting
Constantinople and Budapesth. He replied :
" My dear le Sueur,
" I have no doubt that the capitals of
Europe would greatly benefit by your visiting
them, but I really don't think they will do your
health any good. You had better come home.
" Yours truly,
" C. J. Rhodes."
He had rented Sir Robert Menzie's shooting and
fishing at Rannoch Lodge, and I was looking
forward to going up about August 12, but to my
disappointment he informed me that I was to
remain behind in London.
He left for Scotland, taking Jourdan with the
216 RHODES AND HIS " YOUNG MEN " [cH. ix
party, and I quietly packed up and sailed for Cape
Town on the 12th. Arrived in Cape Town, I was
more or less at a loose end, and, after a month at
Muizenberg I, therefore, went on to Salisbury.
Here the Government didn't quite know what to
do with me, but gave me an acting appoint-
ment, and got a medical report on me, the re-
sult of which was that Rhodes was cabled to
the effect that I was in Salisbury, and that the
Medical Director reported that I could not live
in the country.
Rhodes immediately cabled to me to come
home, and I sailed by the east coast for Naples.
Rhodes was then in Egypt, and I so arranged my
movements that I arrived in London the day
before he did.
I was met by Charles Boyd, whom I have not
previously mentioned except in my preface, as I
had missed him in South Africa in 1897, and he
stood outside the "bodyguard," being political
secretary in London, where he was in close touch
with Mr. Chamberlain and political circles generally.
He was trained for his post, before joining " the
Old Man," by that cultured and distinguished
Imperialist, George Wyndham, whom Rhodes
always held in the very highest regard. Our
association was, however, mainly convivial, and
Boyd and I were dining together one night
when on my first visit to England, when "the
Old Man" came in, wearing a delightful smile,
and remarked to Boyd, " I see you get on all
right ; but how ? Le Sueur can only speak Kaffir."
CHAPTER X
RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL
The great gold discoveries on the Witwaters-
rand began to attract attention about July 1886.
J. B. (Sir Joseph) Robinson had been a member of
the Cape House of Assembly in 1881, and he early
realized the possibilities of "the Rand," and by
following his judgment became a power in South
African affairs.
Through his investments in the early days of
the Rand he accumulated a huge fortune, and he
was afterwards a stubborn opponent of Rhodes.
He was, moreover, on terms of great intimacy with
the late President Paul Kruger.
As early as 1873 Rhodes had formed a partner-
ship with C. D. Rudd, and they were early in-
terested in the Rand gold discoveries. Relying
on the opinions of " experts," however, who were
nearly all of opinion that the reef would not go
down, Rhodes condemned the Rand as a 4 dwt.
proposition and therefore valueless, and until too
late left the field open. Gardner Williams especi-
ally condemned it.
When the richness of the south leader proved
the value of the reef, Rhodes threw himself into
the business of acquiring interests, and succeeded
2X7
218 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [cH. x
in obtaining a considerable holding ; but he had
evidently missed the cream, as Sir Joseph Robinson
later said that his investment of £26,000 in Lang-
laagte stood in a few years at eighteen millions
sterling !
Rhodes personally negotiated with farmers for
the purchase of their farms, the value of which
they had, however, begun to realize, and huge
sums in cash had to be paid for farms which,
before the " rush," could have been obtained for
comparatively small amounts.
There is one story which Rhodes used to tell of
his negotiations with a farmer. The price had been
agreed upon — £30,000 in cash — and the money
was duly counted out on the table and the papers
presented for signature, when a new difficulty
arose.
" Look here, Mr. Rhodes," said the owner, in
Dutch, "I've been talking matters over with the
wife " (your Dutchman always consults his " vrouw "
when it comes to a business deal, or when he has
to put pen to paper), " and we have come to the
conclusion that if we sell the farm we shall have to
buy another one, and you know how scarce fire-
wood is. Well, this farm has acres of good wood
on it, and where shall I find another with anything
like the wood ? So I can't sell."
Rhodes was furious, and pointed out that the
deal had been concluded and the farmer could not
back out now.
" Nie, nie " (no, no), said the Boer ; " but I'll tell
you what I'll do. If you let me take away six
wagon-loads of firewood from the farm, I'U sell."
1 886] THE CONSOLIDATED GOLD FIELDS 219
This being readily agreed to, the deal was con-
cluded and the transfer signed.
Another Boer had sold his farm for a large sum,
which was counted out to him in gold, and the
papers having been signed the purchaser invited
him across to the inevitable wayside store to clinch
the bargain.
The purchaser and members of his party, having
ordered their drinks, the Boer (who had just
locked away some £20,000) was asked what he
would have.
" Nie," replied he, " Ik gebruik nie brandewyn,
maar ik zal blievers een blikje jem neem." (No,
I never drink brandy, but I'll take a tin of jam
instead. )
Rhodes's gold farms in the Transvaal and other
interests on the Rand were taken over by the
Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Ltd.,
which was formed in 1886, and forms the most^
powerful combine of gold interests in Africa
to-day. Rhodes's shares in this Company and in
De Beers were, on his death, about the only
dividend-paying securities he held.^
The " Goldfields," as the Company is known in
Africa, have a variety of interests, and their funds
were used by Rhodes for his schemes, as were
those of De Beers.
Rhodes was, in 1895, in the zenith of his power,
being the managing director of the Chartered
Company and of the Northern Railways, chairman
of De Beers Consolidated Mines and of the Con-
^ Not long before his death he and Beit converted their life governor-
ships of De Beers into deferred shares.
»20 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [cH. x
solidated Gold Fields of South Africa, and Prime
Minister of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
He was thus armed with huge power, had vast
interests in Rhodesia, the Transvaal, and the
Cape, and commanded almost unlimited financial
resources.
His constituency at the Cape was still Barkly
West, jointly with W. P. Schreiner, Attorney-
General.
Then came the disagreement with the Transvaal,
which nearly culminated in war. That was the
Drifts question, which arose after the opening of
the railway to Delagoa Bay from Pretoria and
Johannesburg.
When this line was opened for traffic, the
Netherlands Railway, supported by the Transvaal
Government, imposed such rates over their stretch
of line from the border (Vaal River) to Johannes-
burg, that the Cape merchants who sent their
merchandise as far as the border over the Cape
Government railway-lines could not compete with
goods which, entering at Delagoa Bay, were railed
over the Netherlands line to Johannesburg, in
spite of the in-transit rate granted by the Cape
Government railways.
The Cape merchants then adopted the expedient
of railing their goods to the border, and, crossing
the Vaal River at the drifts (fords), sent them on
to Johannesburg by ox- wagon.
To stop this Kruger closed the drifts for traffic,
and armed men were stationed to guard them.
The matter was the subject of correspondence, as
piles of goods were accumulating on the border,
1 895] THE DRIFTS QUESTION 221
unable to enter the Transvaal, and then Rhodes
submitted the question to his Attorney- General,
W. P. Schreiner, for advice as to the legal position,
and Schreiner advised that Kruger's action was not
only illegal as a breach of the Convention, but that
it justified an appeal to arms.
At this time Kruger looked upon Schreiner as
in sympathy with him. On receipt of Schreiner 's
opinion Rhodes immediately communicated it to
the Transvaal Government, and issued an ulti-
matum that, unless the drifts were thrown open,
force would be employed to compel it, and Kruger,
seeing Schreiner against him, immediately climbed
down.
The time was not yet ripe.
Schreiner was, however, by no means pleased at
use having been made of his opinion, which he
declared he had given Rhodes confidentially, and
he considered Rhodes had been guilty of a breach
of confidence in the matter.
This was Rhodes's second collision with Kruger
— the first being in connection with the annexation
of Bechuanaland.
In 1895 it was represented to Rhodes that the
position of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal was
daily becoming more intolerable, and the continu-
ance of government under the regime of Kruger
and his imported officials well-nigh impossible — at
least, most undesirable^ in view of the fact that the
Uitlanders, who formed a large proportion of the
population, were denied any voice in the govern-
ment of this free republic, the qualifications for
the franchise being almost impossible for the
222 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
majority of them, although they possessed more
than half the land, nine-tenths of the wealth, and
paid nineteen-twentieths of the taxes.
Urgent representations had been made to Sir
Henry (afterwards Lord) Loch, the Governor of
the Cape and High Commissioner for South Africa,
and in turn to the Imperial Colonial Office, and
Sir Henry Loch had visited President Kruger in
Pretoria on the outbreak of riotous behaviour in
Johannesburg, where the crowd had torn down the
Transvaal flag and generally made things very
unpleasant.
Sir Henry Loch's mission, however, did more
harm than good, for even in Pretoria hostile demon-
strations towards Kruger and his satellites were
made ; and while the crowd went madly enthusiastic
over the High Commissioner, they insulted and
mortally offended the President.^ What would
have happened had the High Commissioner gone
on to Johannesburg, Heaven only knows.
The Reform movement started in Johannesburg,
where a huge and unwieldy Reform committee
was elected, not aiming so much at an overthrow
of the Republic, but rather its establishment on the
basis of true and free Republicanism.
The movement met with Rhodes's strong ap-
proval, and he was ready to afford any assistance
he could, not inconsistent with his position as
Prime Minister of the Cape.
^ The horses were taken from the carriage in which Sir Henry Loch
and Kruger were driving, and it was dragged by the crowd amid waving
of the Union Jack, the strains of ^' Rule, Britannia ! " and booes for
Kruger to Sir Henry's hotel; and on arrival there the men refused
to pull the carriage with Kruger and Leyds any farther.
1 895] JOHANNESBURG " REVOLUTION ''
In the meantime Sir Hercules Hobinson, first
Lord Rosmead, who had a special knowledge of
South African affairs, replaced Sir Henry Loch in
June 1895.
Sir Graham Bower, K.C.M.G., was his Imperial
Secretary, and Rhodes communicated with him
freely, a course which afterwards placed Graham
Bower in an awkward and invidious position.
Rhodes also freely discussed affairs with friends at
home, in and out of the Government, and many
must later have trembled in their shoes at the
disclosures anticipated at the Commission after-
wards held to inquire into the preparations for the
" Rocket Revolution " and the responsibility for
its inception and the " Jameson Raid."
As it is only in exceptional cases that revolu-
tions are accomplished without bloodshed, or at
all events a show of force, the Reformers con-
ceived the idea of enlisting the capable male
population of Johannesburg and arming them
as proposed opponents to Kruger s zarps and
burghers and the guns of the fort, which, built
with the Uitlanders' money, commanded the town
and could have demolished half of it in little
or no time.
The " Revolutionary Forces " were to have been
under the supreme command of one of the
Reformers — Colonel Frank Rhodes.
A large quantity of arms, ammunition, etc., were
ordered from the Birmingham Small Arms Co.,
and by the men working day and night,^ fitting
^ The shops were reopened one Saturday afternoon after the men
had gone to their homes^ and the overseers had to hunt them up.
«24 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. X
parts of rifles, etc., together, the consignment was
got ready and shipped in time.
Then it was necessary to make a show of force
on the border and a scheme of mobiHzation was
evolved. A large force of police had been raised
in Bechuanaland — the Bechuanaland Border Police.
It was arranged that these police should be taken
over from the Cape Government by the Chartered
Company, and in order to take transfer all the
Rhodesian Police who could be spared, with guns,
maxims, etc., came down under Jameson, Sir John
Willoughby, and Colonel Harry White to Pitsani
Pothlugo, near Mafeking, to meet the British
Bechuanaland Police, under Colonel Raleigh Grey.
The transfer was, of course, sanctioned by Rhodes
as Cape Premier, and also accepted by him as
representing the Chartered Company.
In the meantime delay after delay occurred in
Johannesburg. As was only to be expected in a
huge committee of men of diverse ranks and occu-
pations, disputes arose, first about the flag and next
about the choice of the future president — in fact,
they all seem to have been engaged in counting
the unhatched chickens.
The recruits, too, proved very unpromising
material, many being terrified out of their wits at
the touch of a rifle ; but their true calibre was
only proved later, when a number made a rush to
the Cape Colony, the men (?) in many instances
pulling the women out of the railway-carriages to
make room for themselves, and others escaping
from the tushes of the ** Transvaal Boar " in
women's clothing.
1 895] "BATTLE OF KRUGERSDORP ^' 225
Jameson then began champing on the bit at
Pitsani, and at length, unable to restrain himself
any longer, and unaware of the hitch in Johannes-
burg, he broke up camp, cut the telegraph wires
after wiring to Dr. Wolff, and with his little force
set out on the quixotic ride to harassed Johannes-
burg, which was to end at Doornkop and Pretoria
gaol.
Colonel Raleigh Grey was before the start asked
by his men of the B.B.P. whether the force was
proceeding under the Chartered Company or the
Imperial Government, and he replied that the
proceedings had the ** tacit consent of the Imperial
Government."
The ride, the " Battle of Krugersdorp," Jameson's
surrender, and the arrest of the Reform Committee
are matters of history and without the scope of
this book.^
The members of the Reform Committee were
placed in gaol in Pretoria, but under very slack
discipline, and were allowed visitors and practically
the same freedom as if they were in their own
houses. They had numerous visitors, including
many ladies, who brought them flowers and dainties,
and they were allowed out on parole, although
there does not appear to be any truth in the story
that the gaoler threatened to lock them out unless
they returned earlier.
Preparations for the Raid were necessarily carried
^ Kruger is said to have had a very full knowledge of all that was
transpiring, and to have been urged to take immediate steps to suppress
any threatened rebellion, but characteristically to have replied that he
was only waiting for the tortoise to put out ^' his head " before sticking
a fork through it.
16
226 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
on very secretly, and yet had to be complete.
Details were largely left to Dr. H. A. Wolff — he,
who, when the "Rocket Revolution" proved a
fiasco, was found under a bed by his fellow-reformers
with Jameson's telegram in his pocket.
An important item was victualling the men and
horses of the " Relief Force " from the north, in
case they should have to enter the Transvaal to
protect the women and children, and the simplest
method appeared to be the establishment of stores
along the line of march between Mafeking and
Johannesburg.
To this end the Rand Produce and Trading
Syndicate was formed and the case of J. H. Mac-
Arthur may be taken as one typical of the way in
which the syndicate was worked.
MacArthur's store was on the main road between
Mafeking and Krugersdorp — about fifty miles from
the border.
He was approached by Dr. Wolff, representing
the Rand Produce and Trading Syndicate, who
arranged with him to have one of the syndicate's
stores erected on the stand ^ leased by him and
adjoining his own store. Mac Arthur agreed to
purchase produce for the syndicate without com-
mission, provided he had the use of the store for
carrying on his own business.
The store was duly erected and stocked and
handed over to MacArthur, who had only been in
possession a few days when Jameson's column came
along, and it was here that Commandant Botha's
first message reached Jameson ordering him to
^ Stand — plot of ground.
1895-6] TRADING STORES EXTRAORDINARY 227
return. A few days afterwards MacArthur was
taken in to Zeerust, a prisoner, by the Boers,
and placed in strict confinement.
After his liberation he explained his position,
and the principal Reformers paid his expenses, and
he was given an assurance that he should keep the
store as compensation, and if he kept quiet every
one would be righted.
This was not worth much, as all the stores were
taken possession of by the Boers, and MacArthur
was informed that they were now the property of
the Transvaal Government.
The rest of MacArthur's story is rather amusing,
and seems worth repeating. MacArthur tried to
get at the leading Reformers again, but every one
professed to have no interest in, nor knowledge of,
either him or any stores.
A leading Reformer (Sir George Farrar) then
wrote and said he could not see him personally,
"as he knew nothing of the affair," but he men-
tioned a party, an outsider, " who would perhaps
be able to advise." This third party promised to
interest himself, "not that he thought the Re-
formers liable, but because he was convinced that
it was a hard case," and MacArthur was tendered
£350 in full settlement, and at the same time
informed that " the stores were a private spec, of
Colonel Rhodes."
Dr. Wolff wrote to MacArthur, and referred to
£100 he had left him in cash to purchase produce
with, " but in the present state of things I think
you had better leave alone that speculation."
MacArthur now applied for the keys of the
228 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
store, and was informed by the Government that
they had already advised him that the store was
now the property of the Government.
In bewilderment Mac Arthur sought legal advice,
and obtained an opinion from his lawyers that
" for their part they thought that the Government
was taking up a very high-handed and untenable
position " — which reminds one of the sergeant's
report to his captain that Private Smith had been
arrested by a civil constable in camp. " But he
cant do that," said the captain. "Anyhow, he's
done it," was the sergeant's reply.
MacArthur tried more law, and was advised
that " the mere fact of announcing that the
store was now their property could not possi-
bly be deemed as conferring ownership on the
Government," and that he had better give the
Government notice that he would charge them,
and prevent them trespassing on his property. He
was recommended, in addition, to take counsel's
opinion, unless he preferred to drop the matter.
The only response he got to his last appeal to
the Government was, " Gemelde stoor nu het
eigendom is van de Regeering der Z.A.R." ^
The fines inflicted on the Reformers amounted
to some £200,000, and this was paid by Messrs.
Rhodes and Beit. The Reformers had, on release,
to sign an undertaking not to conspire against the
Government, but, as is well known. Colonel (now
Sir Aubrey) WooUs-Sampson and Major Karri
Davis refused to sign, and remained in gaol until
* ** The store in question is now the property of the Government of
the South African Republic."
1896] RHODES RESIGNS 229
Kruger, of his magnanimity, released them on
Jubilee Day, June 22, 1897.
Sampson and Rhodes had been friends for years,
and of Davis Rhodes used to say, " Ah, there's a
white man for you, if you like I "
Immediately it was known in Cape Town that
Jameson had crossed the border, Graham Bower
called on Rhodes with a letter from the Governor
demanding Jameson's instant recall. Graham
Bower was told to see Rhodes personally, but
failed to do so, for he first locked himself up in
his bedroom and then retired to the solitude of the
mountain with his thoughts, and for days after
Jameson's surrender he was as a man distraught.
He immediately handed in his resignation as
Prime Minister, and this, as he said, was inevitable
in view of the undertaking he had given as to his
doing nothing incompatible with the dual positions
held by him.
He was also called upon to resign his chairman-
ship and managing directorship of the Chartered
Company, but retained his Privy Councillorship.
Of course, he never intended Jameson to rush
from Pitsani to Johannesburg like a fihbustering
invader, but he did hope that Kruger 's hand might
be forced by the show of force on the border and
the reforms brought about without bloodshed.
Once Jameson had started, it was out of Rhodes's
power to stop him, however much he might have
wished to do so, and the fact that Sir Graham
Bower failed to see him made little if any
difference.
In referring to the Raid afterwards, Rhodes used
230 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [cH. x
to chuckle and say, " Aha, but it was very nearly a
success," and add, " Of course, the proper course
would have been for Jameson to have put his bag
on the train and gone to the Johannesburg races."
Speaking of the Reformers' actions, he said,
" Instead of arming that mob in Johannesburg, a
couple of hundred men could have gone to Pretoria
with knobkerries and seized the President, members
of the Raad,^ and the Arsenal, and the whole thing
would have been over."
He would also keep repeating, " What Jameson
should have done, once he had started, was to have
saddled up at that last store where they had
sardines and gone on the twelve miles into Johan-
nesburg instead of waiting. Why, they got there
at midday."
He was sure that if Jameson had been in, or had
got to Johannesburg, everything would have been
accomplished. His faith in Jameson was un-
bounded.
In consequence of the Raid the share market
was paralysed, and some of those " in the know "
reaped a golden harvest.
Rhodes's resignation was inevitable, but many of
his friends deprecated it. One wrote that the more
he thought over it the more convinced he was that
he must not resign until the Johannesburg crisis
was completed and Jameson back. If he resigned
before that he would, he was certain, greatly
weaken Jamesons position and England's position
in Africa.
The Ministry, of course, fell with Rhodes, and
^ Raad — Parliament or Council.
1896] INTELLECTUAL DAMAGES 231
Schreiner, who indeed loved him with more than
brotherly affection, albeit he deeply felt what he
regarded asRhodes's want of confidence in him in not
acquainting him with the movement in the north,
wrote to him and exhorted him to keep great and
do nothing small. " As for me," he added, " I sit
on the rocks with my small boy and throw stones
into the water."
Jameson and his officers were sentenced to
various terms of imprisonment, and Jameson, after
some time in Holloway, was released on the ground
of ill-health. The plea as to the state of his health
has been questioned, but it is a fact that he was
moved straight from Holloway to the nursing
home of a specialist, and that there, even though
all his food was rubbed through a sieve for him, he
suffered agonies after a meal.
The Boers gained a lot of information from a
diary kept by the Hon. R. (" Bobby ") White,
Jameson's secretary, which was found on the field ;
and Rhodes ever after had a horror of diaries and
journals, and when he found me writing one up in
1897 he promptly destroyed it.
Kruger, of course, submitted a claim for com-
pensation, and presented a formidable bill, an item
in which, "£1,000,000 for moral and intellectual
damages," excited universal merriment and Rhodes's
intense ire, and he used to prove by complex figures
that instead of suffering damage " Kruger made a
considerable profit out of the Raid."
He argued that the practice is not to pay
burghers called out for service, and that while
Kruger 's outlay was a little over £100,000, against
232 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [cH. x
this he received in fines over £200,000, while a
special war tax was levied on farms, the farms of
absentees belonging chiefly to Uitlanders. Then
there was also an asset in the munitions of war
seized.
The cost could not be debited solely against
Jameson, because the burghers were called out to
overawe Johannesburg, which was in revolt.
The cost to the Transvaal, said Rhodes, must
be estimated by what they paid out, and he insisted
that inspection of the accounts showed that they
made a large profit.
Sir Thomas Fuller gives the statement made
by Rhodes to the English Committee of Inquiry,
in which he admits his connection with the move-
ment in Johannesburg and that he assisted the
movement, and further placed Jameson on the
border to act in certain eventualities, while Jame-
son chivalrously wished to take all the blame.
Sir Lewis Michell says: "There are no un-
revealed secrets about the Raid."
There may be no unrevealed " secrets," but
there was some appalling lying about the prepara-
tions. The real pity is that there was not more
secrecy, the fact being that there was far too wide
a knowledge.
In the face of Rhodes's candid utterance, and,
moreover, of established facts, it is hard to con-
ceive why any one should imagine that there was
any mystery about Rhodes's connection with either
the revolution or the Raid.
But in view of Rhodes's statement before the
Committee that he did not communicate his views
1896] THE WAR OF 1899 238
to the board of directors of the British South
Africa Company, a mystery does lie as to how
any one in England, especially those in high places,
came into possession of his views and knowledge
of the events about to transpire, though Rhodes
does not say he did not communicate his views
to private individuals and friends at home.
There is, moreover, a mystery as to what moral
or other support Rhodes could have relied on in
the event of the success of the movement revealing
him closely identified with it.
If the mere disclosure of the fact that he was
aiding and abetting the movement, while he had
given an undertaking in the Cape House that
while Prime Minister and chairman of the
Chartered Company he would do nothing in-
compatible with his dual position, brought about
his political ruin on the failure of the movement,
would not its success have precisely the same
aftermath, unless he knew he could count on strong
moral support in high quarters ?
I do not mean to adopt an " I could an' I
would " attitude. Such is far from being the case,
but I merely wish to emphasize the point that the
full details cannot possibly be published at present,
and I doubt if they ever will be, as after Rhodes's
death all the papers in his possession relating to
the Raid were destroyed under direction of the
executors.
The Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
From the time that the agitation commenced
in the Transvaal and Rhodes identified himself
234 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
with the cause of the Uitlander/ he became the bete
noire of the Transvaal Boer and his sympathizers
in the Orange Free State and Cape Colony.
Resentment against him was also still felt over
his ultimatum to Kruger over the Drifts question,
reaching frenzy when Jameson swooped down on the
Dopper ^ Republic from the north. No matter what
happened, everything was put down to the evil
influence of Rhodes and Kemmerlin (Chamberlain),
aided and abetted by a mysterious Frank Eyes
(the Franchise), and the Boers would have given
anything to have captured Rhodes during the war.
Just prior to war being declared Rhodes deter-
mined to go to Kimberley, and he arrived there
the day after Kruger issued his ultimatum, and the
town was immediately invested.
He doubtless felt that his presence was required,
in view of De Beers' large interests, for he never
looked on Kimberley as a home, never built a
house there, nor did he care about the majority
of the people. He was accompanied by Jourdan
and Dr. Smartt, and he got through safely. His
departure was kept very quiet, but in spite of all
the news leaked out.
Mr. and Mrs. Rochfort Maquire managed to
get through, and were Rhodes's constant com-
panions during the siege.
* Uitlander, lit. foreigner — any settler in the Transvaal who was
not a burgher by birth or to whom letters of naturalization had not
been granted. More especially applied to Britishers, who were under
more stringent restrictions than any other nation.
' Doppers — a nonconforming section of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Kruger used to preach in the Dopper Kerk (Church) as Rockefeller did
in his chapel.
i899] RHODES'S VIEWS 235
In August 1899 I was in Bulawayo, still
endeavouring to con the lesson set me by Rhodes
to " learn the value of a sovereign." Jack Grimmer
and I met Colonel Weston-Jarvis, and he told us
that the climax in the Transvaal was certain to
come off in October. Grimmer volunteered for
the Imperial Light Horse, and I signed on for
service with Napier's Horse. On October 12
Kruger issued his ultimatum.
I got ill shortly after this, however, and Jack
Grimmer, opining that Rhodes would go to
Kimberley, made his way down country in the
hope of joining him. He arrived too late, how-
ever, and only got into Kimberley with the Relief
Force under General French.
Rhodes, in August 1899, felt sure that as soon
as the British Parliament rose there would be
important developments at Home on the Transvaal
question.
He felt, moreover, that it was satisfactory that
the Imperial Government was firm in its resolves
to force Kruger, if necessary, to grant the reforms.
He opined that if Kruger accepted Chamberlain's
suggestion for a joint commission it would only
cause delay and result in nothing good for the
British, save a final rupture.
As " The Times " said, " The pubUc realized at
last that the issue was nothing less than British
supremacy in South Africa, an issue before which
all the scandals of Boer misgovernment faded into
insignificance."
Rhodes knew also that there was little doubt
that the great majority of the country was with
RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
the Government, and he did not think, as he said,
" Kruger such an ass as to resist to the end."
The settlement of affairs in the South African
Repubhc Rhodes held to be of vital necessity, and
he felt that once the burning question of the
Transvaal was over his real mission would begin
and result in the attainment of one of his life's
objects — a united South Africa.
Rhodes certainly did not anticipate that the vv^ar
would last long— in fact, to the very end he did
not believe that there would be a war at all. He
was convinced that the Boers were playing a game
of bluff, or else he deliberately misled the people
at Home*
He kept urging on friends to try and get the
pressure maintained by the Home Government,
and he wrote and cabled his opinion that Kruger
would not fight. " Remember Kruger will climb
down. He will never fight," he wrote to Alfred
Beit, and cabled, " Nothing will make Kruger fire
a shot."
Had he thought that Kimberley would be
besieged for so long a time it is doubtful whether
he would have locked himself up there ; but once
there, it is not strange that the military authorities
found his presence irksome.
He really tried to assume in Kimberley the
position he held during the Matabele campaign —
a position which was naturally intolerable to the
military authorities. Accustomed to command,
especially in Kimberley, where he was a sort of
dictator, it is no wonder that he was impatient of
control, and that the military authorities found
1899] SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY S37
him a handful. It was probably the first time
in his life that he could not do exactly as he
pleased.
His presence in Kimberley was a source of
anxiety, not only to his friends on account of his
personal safety, but to the military and to the
inhabitants, who knew that the Boers would strain
every effort to capture him, and the mayor of the
town wired to him and begged him not to come
to Kimberley.
He had not been in Kimberley very long before
he was at loggerheads with Colonel Kekewich,
and they seem to have squabbled nobly. After
the siege was raised, however, Rhodes reserved his
choicest anathemas for one Major O'Meara, who
seems to have roused his particular ire.
Colonel Kekewich had a mauvais quart d'heure
with Lord Roberts after the siege was raised, the
Field-Marshal telling him, when Kekewich said,
" I have put up with this man as long as possible,''
that ** this man," as he called him, " was a power
in Africa and should have been humoured." The
harassed colonel replied that all he could say was
he had done his duty. Lord Roberts replied that
he was quite aware that Kekewich had done his
duty, but he had done it in a way that was
displeasing to him. Colonel Kekewich's services,
however, were rightly appreciated by De Beers,
who presented him with some very fine diamonds
after the siege was raised.
Rhodes appears to have devoted his time and
the resources of De Beers to the comfort and
safety of the people in Kimberley in every way,
238 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
and from his private purse he suppUed even the
Boer prisoners with luxuries, clothing, etc.
He tried to get some horses into the town for
the purpose of mounted sorties, and to that end he
got hold of a Dutchman and gave him a sum of
money in cash, and told him to go to Barkly and
buy horses and bring them into the town. The
Dutchman set off, and although he managed to buy
horses the Boers captured them, and he barely
escaped with his life into the town.
In the meantime Fynn had told Rhodes that he
did not think the man would get the horses, and
added, " I think you have lost your money."
Fynn and Rhodes were sitting on the stoep of
the Sanatorium when the man returned ; and Fynn
said, " There's your Dutchman," and immediately
Rhodes saw him he shrieked out in his high falsetto,
** Damn you 1 where are my horses ? Where is my
money? Go back, go back, and get my horses.
Fynn said you d steal the money"; and he advanced
on him with such a ferocious aspect that the Dutch-
man fled for his life. He even got out of the town,
but did not return.
The garrison, of course, suffered many privations,
though none of the besieged garrisons suffered
hardships comparable in the remotest degree to
those endured, say, in the siege of Paris. Lady-
smith was perhaps reduced to the greatest straits ;
while as to Mafeking I was told by members of
Plumer's Relief Column that on entry to the town
only were they able to obtain necessaries they had
long looked upon as luxuries.
In Mafeking itself foodstuffs could always be
i90o] A CLEVER EXPEDIENT 239
purchased, such as bully-beef, sardines, etc., though
at siege prices, of course ; while the only complaint
one member of the garrison had to make was that
the night after the relief some members of the
Relief Column broke into the mess to which he
belonged and looted all their liquor. The wines,
spirits, etc., were supposed to be handed in to
general stock as medical comforts, but as a week's
notice was given to hotel-keepers, stores, etc., to
produce their stocks they had ample time to create
a reserve.
In Kimberley Jourdan says, " Every one wanted
to stand the members of the Relief Column drinks,"
which does not sound as if supplies of liquor, at all
events, were exhausted. It was a great grief to
" Danie " Haarhoff, however, in Kimberley to
sacrifice a pet goose he had had for nearly thirty
years ; but he slew the goose for fear of his being
commandeered for the common funds.
The Boers were most anxious to capture Rhodes,
and it is even said that they had an iron cage pre-
pared in which to take him to Pretoria. There
were many rumours of his escape from Kimberley,
and once it was reported that he had escaped in a
balloon.
Rhodes used to ride about in his usual customary
style in his white flannel trousers, and I heard that
he had at least one narrow escape when riding with
the Maguires.
There were thousands of natives shut up in the
town, and the question of feeding them was a
serious one, until an expedient was hit on by
W. D. Fynn (one of the "Queenstown gang"). He
UO RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. X
had an unique knowledge of natives, having
spent all his life amongst them, and he had a
number of educated natives who did nothing but
espionage.
Some of these latter he sent out to the chiefs
from whose kraals most of the natives came, and it
was explained to the chiefs that they were to go to
the Boer commandant (Cronje), and say that they
and their people were anxious to assist the Boers,
but that as long as their people were shut up and
being shelled in Kimberley they were unable to do
anything.
The chiefs did as they were told, and Cronje,
completely taken in, told them that if they could
communicate with their people and get them to
come out they would be escorted through the Boer
lines. This was communicated to Fynn, and
accordingly trains loaded with useless consumers
of much-needed grain were nightly run out a few
miles, and then the natives made for the Boer
lines, through which they were allowed to pass ;
but there is no record that the assistance promised
to Cronje was ever afforded.
Rhodes managed to get a few letters through
the lines, but he chafed and fretted over the dearth
of news. The following is a draft of a message he
sent through to his brother, and the facsimile pro-
duced gives a clear idea of the way in which he used
to compose his letters. After alteration it reads :
" Dear Major,
" Would you send enclosed for me ? I do
not often bother.
i90o] "LONG CECIL" 241
"Rhodes to Elmhirst Rhodes,
^' MoDDER River.
" My messengers cannot get through. Kindly
send me some news. A large portion of last official
wire from Enslin was that a Boer gave a soldier a
tin. I suppose with jam in it. Evidently a Boer
mania is on. Really Methuen or some one should
see that something better than such rot is flashed.
" Yours,
"C. J. Rhodes."
The fact of the matter was that the message
was merely a trial in testing a heliograph.
Kimberley was woefully deficient in guns until
at last some one bethought him of two large pieces
of steel which had been lying in De Beers' yards for
a long time, and a gun was designed and built by
an engineer named Labram.
The gun, known as " Long Cecil," was built in
De Beers' workshops, and before it could be built
tools and certain machinery for making it had first
to be manufactured. The shells were also made
in the workshops, and their bases were inscribed
*' Compts. C.J.R." One of them is now at Groote
Schuur.
Labram was killed by one of the last shells fired
into the town. During the three days preceding
his death he had several very narrow^ escapes, and
when Rhodes was told of his death he said, " Well,
what's a man to do when God's been chasing him
for three days ? "
Rhodes never spoke much of his experiences
during the siege of Kimberley, nor did he say
17
242 RHODES AND THE TRANSVAAL [ch. x
much about the War, except that Jameson ^ had no
business to be in Ladysmith, where he could do no
good, and that Baden- Powell should have been
operating in the north instead of " mountebanking
in Mafeking."
Immediately after the raising of the siege of
Kimberley Rhodes went off to Cape Town, and
then made another tour of Rhodesia, entering via
Beira and going up to Inyanga and Melsetter,
which latter place he had not yet seen.
He was much exercised in his mind about the
Boers' remarkable knowledge of the movement and
disposition of the British troops, and then came to
the conclusion that they were supplied with infor-
mation by the employees of the meat contractors —
the firm of GraafF & Co., under the management
of the Hon. D. P. de Villiers GraafF (now Sir David
GraafF, Bart.), of course, a strong pro-Boer.
Rhodes expressed the opinion that the contractor's
employees who accompanied the columns were all
spies, and thus the Boers had a ready-made and
very efficient intelligence department.
He determined, therefore, to try and counteract
this by the formation of a new company — the
Imperial Cold Storage Co., Ltd. — which was to
make a bid for the meat contract and get rid of
the " spies."
The company was formed, its foundation being
the business purchased as a " going concern " of
one Bergl of Durban; but it was not a great
financial success, and I fancy it was liquidated at a
large loss.
' Jameson had enteric in Ladysmith.
CHAPTER XI
GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES's HOME
When Rhodes's political duties brought him to
Cape Town, he first lived in hotels and afterwards
shared chambers with Captain Penfold, the Port
Captain, who was many years his senior, but most
amusingly used, in common with the rest of the
intimate coterie, to speak of Rhodes as '* the Old
Man."
He then leased Groote Schuur, at that time the
home of Mrs. John van der Byl, and he finally
purchased the house with a few surrounding acres
of land.
The place is generally called Groote Schuur,
but the correct name is " De Groote Schuur,"
Dutch for "The Great Granary," and a mile
off is "De Kleine Schuur," or "The Small
Granary."
These names survive from the days of the old
Dutch East India Company, when the Cape of
Good Hope was the natural port of call for fresh
supplies and water for vessels plying between
Europe and the East. A few names of the earlier
Portuguese occupation and trade between Lisbon
243
244 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [cH. xi
and Calicut and Goa also survive, such as d' Almeida
Bay and Saldanha Bay.^
De Groote Schuur was built as a storehouse
and also a factor's residence for the grain then
grown along the Liesbeek River ; and on the
mountain-side above still stand the ruins of one
of the forts erected to protect the young colony
from marauding Hottentots. A few years ago one
of the guns was still lying there.
Groote Schuur, at different times, came into the
possession of the family of the late John Hofmeyr
and the Mosterts (the graves of some of their
ancestors are on the estate) ; then it passed to the
de Smidts, and then to the van der Byls. The
old windmill which used to grind the Dutch East
India Company's corn is still standing in a fair
state of preservation near Rudyard Kipling's house
— '* The Woolsack."
The estate is approached by a magnificent
avenue of pines, and about the house and in the
vicinity are many massive oaks, whose existence
is due to the foresight of the great Dutch Governor,
van der Stell, who made every owner of land
plant a certain number of trees, and the magnificent
oaks about Stellenberg and Stellenbosch (called
after him) bear witness to his policy in this
direction.
* Portuguese. Algoa Bay and Delagoa Bay on the East Coast form
two points of the base of a triangle whose apex is Goa. During the
season the prevailing winds set in across the Indian Ocean from a
southerly direction, and vessels sailed towards Goa from the direction
of Algoa ("to Goa") Bay ; and returning, the prevailing winds were more
westerly, and Delagoa ("from. Goa") Bay was the port for which they
steered.
1893] A PLEASAUNCE FOR THE PUBLIC 245
Mrs. van der Byl altered the name of Groote
Schuur to "The Grange." When Rhodes pur-
chased the property in 1893, however, he restored
the name, but the name of the entrance avenue
was not altered from " Grange Avenue " to
"Groote Schuur Avenue" until after his death.
After purchasing the house Rhodes set about
acquiring the surrounding ground, and the estate
now comprises about 1,500 acres, including a large
portion of the slope of the mountain, up, in fact,
to the old block-house. Most of this was covered
with thick bush.
He also purchased a strip of the mountain-side
sufficient to make a road for about five miles from
Groote Schuur to the Hout Bay Nek. " West-
brooke," the property of the Moodies, which ad-
joins Groote Schuur, he tried to purchase, but
the estate was entailed, and the entail could not
then be broken. The property has since been
purchased by the Union Government for an official
residence for the High Commissioner.
Always intending Groote Schuur to be a
pleasaunce for the public, Rhodes had drives and
roads made, the bush intersected by protecting fire-
paths, and benches of teak placed at different points.
He then divided a portion of the estate into pad-
docks, into which were turned different varieties
of South African antelope ; and he imported from
Austraha kangaroos, emus, and wallabies, which
have all thriven well. Rhodes tried hard to get
some giraffe for Groote Schuur, and at last man-
aged to get one ; but on the way down country
by train in a truck whoever was in charge forgot
246 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES^S HOME [ch. xi
to have the animal's head pulled down on entering
the Hex River tunnel, and the giraffe's neck was
broken.
The aviaries were filled with Lady Amherst
and golden pheasants, Californian quail, and
Japanese wild duck, with various other birds.
The English song-birds, however, were a great
disappointment. Rhodes imported a great number
of nightingales, thrushes, starlings, chaffinches, and
about two hundred rooks. These were all liberated
at Groote Schuur. For a year or two the songs
of the nightingales and thrushes were heard in
the woods on the estate, but they seem to have
died out, or else the phlegm of South Africa
having entered their spirits they have developed
a characteristic disinclination for anything ap-
proaching work, for they no longer sing, though the
chaffinches and starlings especially have become
very numerous.
The rooks were killed off by the carrion-crows,
with the exception of three, who for some years
carried on a seemingly bored existence in the firs
at the back of the house, but they, too, bucketed
about in the high winds in silence.
The starlings, however, were made of different
metal. They immediately took to their new
country, and throve exceedingly. They have in-
creased in numbers to an alarming extent, and are
the curse of the fruit farmers ; in fact, they have
become almost as great a pest in the fruit-growing
districts as the rabbit in Australia, or the London
sparrow imported into New York.
The squirrels, too, liberated at Groote Schuur
1893] "BARBARIC SIMPLICITY 247
have spread in vast numbers over the Cape pen-
insula, and levy a heavy toll upon all manner of
nuts, and destroy thousands of peaches in getting
at the kernels in the stones. Serious attempts are
being made to exterminate them.
At Groote Schuur there were no neat lawns
nor dainty flower-beds, but even the garden re-
flected the " bigness " of the man, and everything
grew more or less wild ; big flowering shrubs and
tangles of blossoming creepers luxuriated every-
where, while the terraces at the back of the house
were covered with shrubs and creepers that provide
a heterogeneous mass of colour, and the blazing
magenta of masses of bougainvillea stand out in
vivid contrast to the delicate light blue of the
hedges of plumbago^ by which it was flanked.
Rhodes wished everything out of doors to be of
"barbaric simplicity."
When Groote Schuur was purchased by Rhodes,
the house was not the imposing edifice it is to-day.
The old thatched roof had been removed and
slates substituted ; but Rhodes restored the thatch,
which a few years after is said to have caused
the fire which gutted the house.
The public readily took advantage of Rhodes's
throwing the grounds open to them, and they are
the holiday resort of hundreds of busy workers,
besides being a show-place for visitors to the Cape.
The house was open for inspection even when Rhodes
was in occupation ; but it was, as a rule, closed
on Sundays and public holidays, as the sightseers
were too numerous for the staff to deal with.
* Rhodes's favourite flower.
248 GROOTE SCHUUK, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
Numerous visitors used calmly to walk up and
stroll along the back, looking into the windows,
even when Rhodes, whom they probably did not
recognize, was sitting in his chair at the far end
of the stoep. I have known the bell to be rung by
couples, and tea asked for, which was always suppHed,
and I have come across people strolling about the
house quite unattended, having probably walked
in through some door left open. One afternoon
I went into the library, and saw a rough-looking
man sitting in an easy-chair reading a newspaper.
I inquired if there was anything I could do for
him. " No," he replied. " Then what are you
doing here ? " I asked. *' Oh, just havin' a look
round," he said. " This is Cecil Rhodes's 'ouse,
ain't it ? "
The old summer-house was restored, and be-
came a favourite spot for picnic parties and " school-
treats." Notice of one of these used to be sent to
the steward, and then native "boys" were sent
to make fires and boil kettles, and swings were put
up so that the visitors had a minimum of trouble.
Rhodes was very much annoyed to find that
in a very short time the teak benches had a mass
of names and initials cut into them by visitors
who wished to immortalize themselves. He hated
that sort of thing, and told me he felt like weeping
when he saw the disfigurements on the ruins of
temples, etc., when he went up the Nile.
Rhodes was presented with a lion and lioness,
for whom he built a den or cage in two compart-
ments— one occupied by the lions and one by a
leopard. The lions hated the proximity of th^e
1 897] THE LIONS 249
leopard, and the latter having, in an unwary
moment, let his tail hang through the dividing-
bars the lion got hold of it, and pulled it off, and
the leopard died of blood-poisoning. The lioness
twice had cubs, but they did not live/
The public had free access to every part of the
estate, but were warned against entering the
paddocks which contained the more dangerous
animals. In spite of all warnings, however, three
persons were killed in one of the paddocks by a
black wildebeeste (gnu).^ One man who went in
to gather mushrooms was picked up in nineteen
pieces.
Rhodes himself had a narrow escape from a big
eland bulL^ While he was walking in a paddock
with a friend the bull attacked them, but a
large stone thrown by Rhodes at the animal broke
its hind leg, and Rhodes and his friend made their
escape.
In a speech on the cost of living once at Cape
Town Rhodes told his audience that he was
horrified when his steward told him that his lions
were costing him £180 a year in meat alone, and
went on to say that when looking down on Cape
Town from the mountain he reflected that if he
felt the cost of meat for his lions to be so high,
how much more were not the poor in the houses
below him affected ?
He made President Kruger very angry by pre-
senting a lion to the Pretoria Zoo through
^ '^ Wildebeeste " (gnu) — the black species is now extinct, but the
brindled or blue abounds in Bechuanaland, Rhodesia and farther
north.
-^ "JBland " — the largest South African antelope^
250 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
Dr. Gunning, the curator, who came to visit him.
The curator was ordered to return it, as Kruger
looked on the gift as a studied insult. Dr. Gunning
wrote returning the lion in September 1899, and
he afterwards* told Rhodes that the discourteous
letter was dictated for his signature, and that
some of the members of the Volksraad had
suggested that a silver collar should be put round
the lion's neck and inscribed " Suzerainty."
After the outbreak of rinderpest the lions were fed
on cold storage meat, which was the only meat
procurable, but after a few months they refused
to touch it, and would leave it lying for days, until
sheer hunger forced them to eat it. A flock of goats
was then purchased, and were killed for the lions,
who ate the flesh readily. Live pigeons and fowls
were also put into the cage for them, as the lions
needed fresh blood, and like great cats they would
stalk pigeons and spring to the top of the cage to
get them.
The animals occasionally escaped, especially one
koodoo bull, who used to leap a seven-foot fence
and raid Rudyard Kipling's rose-garden. A
kangaroo was caught in a leopard-trap by a
Hout Bay farmer, who killed it and sent Rhodes
a hind-quarter. The quagga (zebra) were not
confined in paddocks, but the herd used to range
the mountain-side ; while the thick bush was full
of pea-fowl, which reverted to a semi-wild state.
The native grysbok used to come down from
Table Mountain and get through the wire fences,
and one afternoon I shot five of them in one of
the paddocks within an hour.
1 897] THE FIRE 251
During the outbreak of plague at the Cape
Rhodes offered a site on the estate to the miUtary
for estabhshment of a plague camp, but the
municipal authorities objected to the use of this
ideal spot for the purpose.
Rhodes furnished his house with all the quaint
old Dutch and French furniture he could collect
in the Cape Colony, and the bedroom utensils, etc.,
were all in sympathetic style. One of the old
Dutch doors from the Castle was put in on the
back stoep, and Rhodes purchased his front door
from the My burghs at Elsenberg (near Stellenbosch).
He paid £200 for this door, besides providing a
replica.
At Christmas 1895 Groote Schuur was burnt
down. The origin of the fire is uncertain, but the
circumstances point to the act of an incendiary. The
fire broke out in the thatch at the corner of the
roof above one of the bedrooms. The house was
gutted, only two rooms being spared. The Elsen-
berg door was destroyed, as no one seemed to
know that it could easily be removed by being
simply lifted off the hinges. A great number of
papers were destroyed, as well as a large number
of books, and, of course, a quantity of furniture
which it was impossible to replace.
Rhodes's books were distributed through three
rooms — some in the ante-room, used as an office,
others in the billiard-room, and others in the
smoking-room (called the library). With the ex-
ception of some old volumes of travel in the
billiard-room there were none of particular value.
History and biography predominated, and he
252 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
had many works on Napoleon, from Bourrienne's
pasan of praise to Rosebery's " Last Phase." The
cream of the hbrary was the unique collection of
translations of the classics, which cost Rhodes from
first to last about £8,000.
Rhodes commissioned Mr. A. Humphreys, of
Hatchard's, Piccadilly, to obtain for him transla-
tions of the authorities quoted by Gibbon in
his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"
in absolutely unabridged form. They were all
type- written and bound in uniform red, and
many were illustrated with drawings from coins,
medallions, etc., and some of them were of a
decidedly erotic nature. When I catalogued the
library, I locked away the volumes containing the
more disturbing of the illustrations ; but despite all
precautions the illustrations were cut out and
removed. 1 have a shrewd idea as to the culprit.
There were also many other classics of interest,
such as those entitled the " Private Histories of
the Roman Emperors and Empresses," and a large
number of texts as well as translations of old
French and Portuguese books of travel.
Rhodes was up country at the time of the fire,
news of which was wired to him ; and the story
goes that he was told that bad news had arrived
for him, and that when the nature of it was con-
veyed to him he said, " Thank God ! — I thought
something had happened to Jameson." I don't
believe this story has any foundation in fact, but
he did inquire immediately whether the front
door had been saved.
A Mr. CoUey was employed to furnish Groote
1896] THE BATHROOM 253
Schuur, and he was more or less in the position of
an advising architect. He was really in charge
of Groote Schuur. When the fire occurred, Miss
Edith Rhodes was staying at Groote Schuur and
had had a disagreement with Colley, who left the
house, and I do not think Rhodes ever again spoke
to him. Rhodes said that Colley should have
remained at Groote Schuur, as he was in charge
and practically responsible for the house.
Rhodes had taken a great fancy to Herbert
Baker, who had introduced a new style of archi-
tecture into the Cape Colony. Herbert Baker,
with Francis Masey, afterwards established the
firm of Baker & Masey, the leading architects in
South Africa. Rhodes employed Baker to rebuild
Groote Schuur on the old site of the house. There
was a great deal of alteration, and a new
wing was added. The thatch was replaced with
tiles and the ceilings made fireproof. Baker rather
elaborated, but the simplicity of Groote Schuur is
due to Rhodes, who made many suggestions, and
took an active interest in the progress of the work
while he^ was there. A replica of the old front door
was made, and the old brasses were attached to it.
A feature of the house is the lavish use of teak
for panelling, rafters, and ceilings, a whole ship-
load of Burmah teak having been employed.
The fireplaces were all large open ones, in which
great logs were burned.
The principal bathroom received particular
attention. The whole of it was paved with
coloured and white and green marble, the bath
itself was hollowed out of one solid block of granite,
254 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [cH. xi
brought from the Paarl, and the room contained a
large marble slab for any one who required massage.
The bath excited the particular interest of the
late " Dick " Seddon, Premier of New Zealand,
when he visited Groote Schuur, and turning round
to Mrs. Seddon he said, " At last, Ma, I have
found a bath to fit me."
On Rhodes s return from the north in 1898, one
or two rooms had been completed, and he occupied
his bedroom, which he chose on account of the
wonderful view it gave of the slopes of the
mountain. It directly faced the old block-house
and the site of the memorial since erected. He
liked showing friends over the house, and would
conduct them to his bedroom to point out the
view from the window.
After the house had been rebuilt, it was
refurnished from top to bottom. The existing
dining-room table is a fine piece of Spanish
walnut, and at one time belonged to my own
people. The beds were all solid teak four-
posters, the wardrobes, with silver handles and
secret drawers, were old Dutch ones, picked
up here and there in Dutch farmhouses and old
mansions, and the house generally was filled with
antiques of all sorts. Nothing clashed, but in
everything, from copper kitchen utensils and brass
cuspidors to the Spanish stamped leather in the
drawing-room, there was harmony.
Rhodes was not fond of pictures, and 1 don't think
he bought more than one in his life — at least not
because he admired it. He always said he could
employ his money better than by spending it on
1899] PICTURES 255
pictures. The one he did buy was a Reynolds, which,
he said, represented his ideal of a beautiful woman.
This picture was hung over the fireplace in the
dining-room.
During the siege of Kimberley Groote Schuur
was occupied, at Rhodes's invitation, by some friends,
who invited other friends, and entertained them-
selves and one another royally, nor hesitated to
take full advantage of Rhodes's hospitality, even
to the length of ordering their own particular
brands of wines and cigars.
During one of their after-dinner frolics a table-
knife chanced to find its way through the eye of
the lady portrayed in the picture. The damage
was skilfully repaired, but had Rhodes but known !
It is significant, though, that immediately he
could get a wire through he closed the house
to guests. This picture, after his death, was
removed to Dalham.
Another picture he admired belonged to one
Kahn of Paris, and Rhodes offered him £6,000 for
it. Kahn refused, but agreed to bequeath it to
Rhodes in his will, Rhodes, on his side, to leave
him £6,000 in his. Whichever outHved the other
was to have the legacy, and so the fourth clause of
Rhodes's will reads : " I give the sum of £6,000 to
Kahn of Paris, and I direct this legacy to be paid
free of all duty whatsoever."
In the dining-room was a piece of tapestry
representing some allegorical subject, and there
was another in the billiard-room. I understood
that there were four in the set, intended to
represent the continents.
^56 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
j'k The dining-room was lighted by candles in
massive silver candlesticks placed on the dining
table, the only other lights being small electric
lights in brackets on the walls, and the effect of
the subdued light on the teak rafters and panelling
was pleasing.
One night at dinner Rhodes spoke of the table,
and hfted the cloth to show the wood. He then
suggested taking the cloth off, and remarked that
he believed it was the fashion in many houses to
remove the cloth with the advent of dessert
and port.
I interjected a remark, and he scowled and said,
** Oh, I suppose you'll say youVe often seen
it done."
" No," I replied ; " what I was going to say was
that whether it is the fashion or not, it would be
nice to see the reflection of the silver candlesticks
and bon-bon dishes on the polished surface of the
table."
" He's perfectly right," said he immediately in
his falsetto voice. " It doesn't matter tuppence if
it's the usual thing or not so long as the effect is
pleasing. That's the point — the pleasing effect.
Of course he's right." And he at once had the
cloth removed, to the servants' dismay as they
thought of the scratches and probably burns on
the surface of the table.
On the front stoep of Groote Schuur were two
small cannon, which were found in the Matoppos ;
one of them, having the Portuguese arms on it,
gives clear evidence that a Portuguese expedition
penetrated far into South Africa, probably in
SoAPSTONE Bird from Zimbabye Ruixs.
256]
1 897] THE FLAGS 267
search of the Kingdom of Monomotapa and its
reputed riches.
In the smoking-room, known as the hbrary, two
flags hung on the wall — one the Portuguese
Standard captured at Ma9equece in 1891, and the
other a battered Union Jack carried by Jameson's
column into Matabeleland in 1893.
In this room there used to stand a large soap-
stone bird credited with being of Phoenician origin,
and found in the course of excavations at Zim-
babye. There were also a small similar copper
bird of better workmanship and neater design, and
many soapstone emblems of phallic worship, with
tacks and sheets of gold, with which precious metal
the temple at Zimbabye was said to have been
plated. The soapstone bird Rhodes had set up
in the committee-room of the Cape Executive
Council, in order that members might, in their
deliberations, "realize their puniness when they
contemplated that emblem of antiquity."
The posts on the staircase were surmounted by
copies of the bird in teak, and the rain-water
spouts on the upper walls were also copies.
A cabinet also contained the gold retort found
at Inyanga, a few other curios, and some old
snuiF-boxes of not much intrinsic value, which had
been presented to him by friends. I think the
only piece of really good old silver he possessed
was given to him by the late Richard (** Dick ")
Chamberlain, brother of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain,
who was an ardent collector of old silver. Rhodes
was, however, rather proud of a gold butter-dish
(which was in daily use), which was said to
18
258 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
have belonged to Charles I. of England, and
was surmounted by a royal crown and the
initials C.R.
There was also a large silver snuff-box in the
shape of an elephant, given by the directors of
the Tati Concession to Lo Bengula, and found in
Bulawayo on its occupation in 1893. Lo Bengula
adopted an elephant as his seal, and his signet-ring
was also found in burning Bulawayo by Garlick,
servant to Dr. Jameson.
At luncheon and dinner Rhodes used little
coffee-cups and saucers (of which he had a whole
service) of various fancy designs. They were
made of very fine china, and covered by a secret
process with dull beaten gold, which made them
rather heavy and retained the heat. They were
not, however, as Sir Thomas Fuller says, made
in a monastery, but, alas for the romance,
" made in America." They are manufactured
from a patent held by two old ladies in Wash-
ington, U.S.A., from whom I obtained some
for Lady Howe and her sister, Lady Sarah
Wilson.
Another object of interest in the library was a
small oak table, which was carved for Rhodes by
the Royal Children at Sandringham, and presented
to Rhodes by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria.
On returning from up country once Rhodes missed
the little table, and at once inquired for it. He
was told that Mr. Currey, his agent, had had it
removed to Kipling's house, " The Woolsack."
Rhodes immediately put on his hat, and, walking
over to " The Woolsack," returned carrying the
1 897] " BOBBY'' BURNS'S STATUE 259
table, which he replaced in the library, saying,
** That's mine. It's my table. I want it here."
I must mention the large wooden dish which
was also in the library. It, too, was found at
Zimbabye, unfortunately partly destroyed by
white ants ; but all things considered, it is in very
good repair, and the signs of the Zodiac carved
round its rim are easily decipherable.
There was no piano in the house, except in the
servants' quarters, but in the drawing-room stood an
old-fashioned five-octave spinet, which Rhodes had
had copied from one he had seen somewhere. I
brought out a fine Edison phonograph for him once
for Groote Schuur, but I don't think it was ever used.
In the drawing-room was a bronze of Robert
Burns. Rhodes took a great fancy to this when
he first saw it, and purchased it, together with
the plaster model, so that no one should obtain
a duplicate of it. He was fond of asking visitors
to guess who it was, and said that as soon as
he saw it he knew it was Burns thinking over
his poetry " amongst the cabbages."
Rhodes had rather a nice collection of glass in a
cabinet in the dining-room, including one or two
old Dutch pokaals (flagons), on which the coats-of-
arms of the past owners were engrossed. After
Rhodes's death, however, some of these were
claimed by, and returned to, those who had given
them to Rhodes, as they said they intended the
gifts for him and not for any future Prime
Ministers of any federated states.
Rhodes's bedroom contained only the ordinary
furniture, severe in simplicity, and on the walls
260 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES'S HOME [ch. xi
were a portrait of Bismarck and a photograph
of a very old native woman, one of UmziHgazi's
wives. She was one of the principal intermedi-
aries between Rhodes and the Matabele rebels
during the peace negotiations at the historic
Matoppo indaba.^
In the billiard-room hung two flags — one a small
Union Jack with the Moslem crescent and star,
carried by General Gordon on the Nile, and the
other a large Union Jack, which was taken by
Mr. E. S. Grogan from Cape Town to Cairo.
Mr. Grogan was an Oxford undergraduate, who
started out to walk from Cape Town to Cairo
in the long vacation, and accomplished the trip,
though it took him two years. Rhodes afterwards
wrote an introduction to his book.
A few women, wives of the servants, formerly
lived on the premises, and Tony's wife was cook,
but the breath of scandal caused Rhodes to clear
every woman, white and coloured, off the place,
and none but men-servants were employed.
In the grounds a number of Matabele, who
came down as servants to Lo Bengula's three sons,
used to work, the sons, N'jube, M'peseni, and
Ngongubela being sent to a college for natives.
One of these natives was always flush of money,
and on his being watched it was found that he
had brought his war-dress with him, and that when
opportunity offered he used to don it and dance
^ Inddba, lit. a tongue, comes to mean a meeting for discussion,
and is used in the same way as Durbar or pala\'er. In kitchen Kaffir
it is used to mean a matter, as in '^ What is the indaba?" — i.e.
matter, or, ^' Why all this indaba?" — i.e. trouble, '^That's not your
indaba " — i.e. business.
1898] N'JUBE, LO BENGULA'S SON 261
in the garden for the edification and coppers of
visitors.
N jube and his brothers often used to come to
Groote Schuur to spend the day, and Rhodes took
great pleasure in talking to them; and to hear the
erstwhile young savages spouting Virgil and talking
of matriculating gave one to think.
Rhodes was very fond of telhng a story of
N'jube. Rhodes had promised to take him up to see
his mother in Bulawayo, and N'jube was delighted ;
but " I told him," said Rhodes, " ' Now, N'jube,
if you come up with me I must have no nonsense
about your being a king. You will have to help
Tony and wash the plates and clean my boots.'
* Yes, sir, I understand,' " replied N'jube. The
day before they were to start the head gardener
came to Rhodes and said that N'jube had taken
away two of the garden boys. N'jube was sent
for, and explained, in the most natural way, that
all he had done was to take away two of his
own slaves to come and wash the plates and clean
the boots. Rhodes flew into a rage, and said he
would punish him by not taking him to Bulawayo.
"N'jube then cast himself at my feet," said
Rhodes, and said, ' Oh, sir, do forgive me.' "
In 1898 a young reigning Sultan came to see
Groote Schuur. He was accompanied by a mis-
sionary, who acted as interpreter.
Rhodes told me to show the young fellow round.
It was the first time I had ever been asked to act
as cicerone to one 1 looked on as a nigger, and very
much resented it, but I bethought me of N'jube
and his brothers, who were spending the day at
262 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES^S HOME [ch. xi
Groote Schuur, and took the Sultan down to the
stable-yard with his guardian. N'jube and the
others were there fraternizing with their " slaves,"
and I called N'jube up and introduced him to the
Sultan, saying to the latter, '* Here is the king of
all the Matabele. I think you ought to be friends,"
and so left them, the missionary man being too
amazed to say anything. The Sultan had a mag-
nificent diamond solitaire ring on. I hope he got
safely away with it.
The estate was at different times in charge of
various stewards. J. Norris, whose name will be
familiar to many old habitues of Groote Schuur,
and did yeoman service towards its making, came
to Rhodes from the Inniskilling Dragoons. Being
threatened with lung trouble, however, Rhodes
established him on a farm at Inyanga, where he
thrives to-day. He also left him an annuity of £100.
E. G. B. Carter, distinguished by indefatigable
energy and unfailing courtesy, came from the Hat-
field Estate. When he first asked Rhodes for
employment, he was sent in a moment of grim
humour to join a number of native women engaged
in weeding the paddocks ; but this was Rhodes's
idea of trying a man. After a few days Carter
was moved down to the house, and in a very short
time became head steward — a position of trust
and responsibility, but apt to produce an attack
of tete montee.
The house was not very large, and when half a
dozen male guests and their " gentleman's gentle-
men" were staying there accommodation was
strained to its limits.
1898] A '^ SAMPLE" OF ALE 263
It was an expensive place to keep up, and when
occupied the expenditure amounted to £2,000 a
month, reduced to about £400 when empty.
The valets were much more difficult to deal with
than the guests. In fact, the servants' hall nearly
always had some excitement to provide for the
secretary, under whose direction the household
affairs were conducted.
The valets and chauffeurs had access to nearly
everything, and the servants' hall vied with the
dining-room.
Beer they would have none of, and when whisky-
and-soda was supplied them they made a strong
protest against the locally made soda and demanded
Schweppe's. They also found the whisky of poor
quality, and perhaps this was excusable, as several
buckets of distilled water had been added to one of
the casks. Two casks were always kept going,
one being filled up from the other.
Rhodes did not spend much in stocking his
cellar. He had, however, acquired by gift some
very fine '91 and '93 Rudesheimer, Mouton Roths-
child of '78, and '54 Port.
A distinguished brewer, who shall be nameless,
sent him a couple of dozen very old and very
strong ale. It was almost as dark as port, and
is usually drunk in wineglasses as a liqueur.
Rhodes, however, having quaffed a flagon of it,
found it much to his liking, and wrote and thanked
the donor ybr the sample of excellent ale sent to
him and placed an order for one hundred dozen.
The brewer replied that he was very pleased that
Rhodes liked the ale, and added that he intended
264 GROOTE SCHUUR, RHODES^S HOME [ch. xi
the two dozen as a Christmas gift, it being ale that
he only brewed for friends ; but that, as Rhodes
evidently appreciated it so highly, he begged his
acceptance of the one hundred dozen which he had
ordered to be shipped to Groote Schuur.
The ale was very heady stuff, and Rhodes used
to delight in getting some guest to drink a bottle
of it at lunch, as it was morally certain that the
guest would fall asleep after lunch under its
influence.
During 1896 and 1897 an extraordinary number
of acts of vandalism were committed at Groote
Schuur — put down to the scum of the supporters of
Rhodes's opponents.
When Rhodes returned from the north in 1898
no less than nineteen fires had been started, and,
fortunately, extinguished, on the estate ; nests of
eggs of valuable golden and other pheasants
were smashed, and one night part of the aviary
was saturated with paraffin and set fire to.
An attempt was made to liberate the lions, the
bars of the cage being found bent to a width
nearly sufficient to enable the lions to escape.
Fifteen kangaroos, eighteen ostriches and emus,
and a number of other animals were killed in the
paddocks by being knocked over the head with
knobkerries,^ while 1,800 young camphor and
oak-trees, which Rhodes had planted in avenues
for the benefit of future generations, were de-
stroyed by simply being broken in half. None
^ Knobkerrie — a short stout stick with a round head the size of a
cricket ball, used by natives for striking and also for throwing. A
good man can throw one as far as an assegai (spear) — i.e. one hundred
and fifty yards.
1898] ACTS OF VANDALISM 265
of the perpetrators of these outrages were ever
caught.
The grounds were closed to the pubhc for some
time after the outbreak of rinderpest at the Cape,
and in reopening them in 1898 Rhodes drew
attention in the local press to the vandalism, and
pathetically asked " the public once again to
become guardians of the house and grounds."
CHAPTER XII
RHODES AND THE DUTCH OF SOUTH AFRICA
A " Dutchman " is ordinarily regarded as a native
of Holland, but in South Africa to-day a large
proportion of families who are called Dutch trace
their descent from other than Dutch ancestors.
Some are, of course, descended from the Dutch
of Holland who settled in South Africa under the
Dutch East India Company or the rule of the
Batavian Government ; but the majority of the
better-class families who call themselves " Dutch-
men " to-day are descendants of French Huguenots
or imigres. There is a fair mixture of other
nationalities ; thus amongst those who speak
nothing but the " taal " are Murrays, Macdonalds,
Erasers, Haydens, and there are Murphys who
claim Paul Kruger as a great-uncle.
The majority of the Huguenot settlers came out
between 1685 and 1690, after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. Many escaped in disguise to
Holland, England, America, and the Channel Isles ;
but a refuge having been offered to them at the Cape
by the directors of the Dutch East India Company,
many decided to avail themselves of it and emi-
grated. They settled mainly in the wine and fruit
266
i685] THE HUGUENOTS 267
districts from Stellenbosch to Worcester, where,
however, Uttle trace of them survives, except in the
names of farms such as Champagne, La Provence,
La Motte, Languedoc, Normandie, etc. Those who
came from wine districts disguised themselves as
peasants, vine-dressers, and so on ; others from other
parts of Normandy, such as Bayeux, carrying the
leathern aprons and hammers of tapestry-hangers,
and some of these are preserved as relics to this day.
On arrival at the Cape the majority of them
destroyed family papers, and, in fact, cut all ties
joining them to France. The closest tie of all,
that of language, was severed by order of the
Dutch East India Company, who forbade the
Huguenots to speak French or even to hold their
religious services in their own tongue, and to-day
the beautiful language of France is, to the Boer,
as comprehensible as ancient Greek. As for their
names, many have been woefully corrupted ; thus
De Villiers is pronounced Filjee, Cilliers is pro-
nounced Ciljie, and often spelled Cillie. Theroud
has become Theron, and Villon, Viljoen, while
La Grange has taken the monstrous shape of
Lagranzie. These are the " Dutch " of South
Africa to-day, with so much '' Dutch " about them
that not one in ten if addressed in pure or High
Dutch of Holland would be quite sure he was
not listening to Hebrew.
The "Cape Dutchman," or, as 1 prefer to call
them, the South Africans, are to-day divided into
two great classes, and a fairer comparison cannot
be taken than the people of Ireland and their
division into Nationalists and anti-Home Rulers.
RHODES AND THE DUTCH [ch. xii
The country and people are divided on racial
lines, but against the great Nationalist Party,
organized by the now happily defunct " Afrikander
Bond," whose creed is "Afrikafor the Afrikanders,"
is ranged a large section with strong Imperial and
closer Union sympathies, but lacking organization.
Many South Africans are proud of calling them-
selves Africanders (op-regte^) for choice, but many
others are seriously offended at the name. " Afri-
kander," truly applied, designates the bastards
and the half-castes 6r descendants of the slaves
and Hottentots with European blood in them.
" Afrikander " is amongst them taken to mean
" Bruine-mensch," or brown person, and the term
was originally used to distinguish aboriginals and
coloured from the whites, whom they called
"Ullaners," a corruption of Hollanders, which in
the days of Dutch occupation included all white
men. A species of gladiolus which grows wild in
the Cape Peninsula and is of a brown colour is
known as an " Afrikander." A very large number
of the old Cape famiHes have a taint of Hottentot
or Mozambique blood in them, and the average
South African has as much horror of this taint
as any southern gentleman in the United States of
America. Many a furtive glance have I seen cast
at tell-tale finger-nails, the blue tinge in which
betrays the existence of the dash of the " tar-brush."
Cecil Rhodes was fond of South Africans, and
many of those intimately associated with him were of
^ Op-regte, lit. upright. Honourable does not supply the meaning.
It is used in the sense of staunch, genuine, loyal, true, patriotic. It does
not necessarily imply honesty, for instance. A horse-thief may be a
most op-regte Africander.
1898] THE TAR-BRUSH 269
South African birth. Pickering, Currey, Van der
Byl, Lange, Coryndon, Grimmer, Jourdan, and I
were all born in South Africa. "Your South Afri-
cans are all right," he would say, " but you want to
be careful ; the So-and-sos are all right, the So-and-
sos and the So-and-sos (mentioning the names of
different families), but when you get the black
blood, then look out."
The half-castes who claim descent on the outer
side of the blanket from the early settlers and their
slaves used to take the names of the families to
whom they belonged, just as many of the liberated
slaves did — and thus during the War Louis Cloete,
of Alphen, as a joke had himself photographed
with four other Cloetes, who were all coloured in
different shades, from the peppercorn-headed
Hottentot to the light coffee-coloured Cape boy.
The late Colonel Schermbrucker, in the Cape
House of Assembly, once administered a severe
verbal castigation to a certain member of the Bond
Party who was " tainted," and who had bitterly
attacked the Progressive Party. In replying
Colonel Schermbrucker said that he was in the
debt of the honourable member and proposed to
pay him capital and interest. Then, having made
his point, he said, "That, Mr. Speaker, is the
capital." Then he went on, " Mr. Speaker, the
hon. member said in his speech that he did not
know where the Imperialists came from. Some,
he believed, were imported from Germany — refer-
ring to me. Well, I am a Bavarian, Mr. Speaker,
and am proud of it, and, moreover, I look back
through fourteen generations of my ancestors and
270 RHODES AND THE DUTCH [cH. xii
I find nothing but pure Teutonic blood, and," he
thundered out at the unfortunate member, " dot is
der interest," and he sat down in a House in which
you might have heard a pin drop.
When the Africander Bond was first constituted,
its avowed object was the foundation of a United
South Africa and the building up of a great South
African nation. In earlier days it is true that a
separate flag was aimed at, but it is only fair to
state that for many years its declared policy was
the preservation intact of South Africa as an
integral portion of the Empire.
Rhodes undoubtedly used the political power of
the Bond, and the Bond was the party that put him
into power. After Rhodes's fall, however, the
sympathy evinced by the Bond for Kruger and his
coterie of Hollanders caused it to become a mighty
weapon in the hands of that astute intriguer.
Dr. Leyds.
Rhodes often said he had no quarrel with the
Dutch ; his quarrel was with Krugerism and all it
meant, and that was, when boiled down, nothing
more or less than the destruction of British supre-
macy in South Africa. Kruger was an ambitious
man, and his ambition was fed by his ill-chosen
advisers, through whose machinations he persisted
until he had thrown away the independence so
highly valued by his people, and dragged the Orange
Free State with him into the melting-pot. RJiodes
always accused Kruger of filibustering, and quoted :
(1) The raid into Mankoroane's territory in
Bechuanaland, under Van Niekerk and Piet Joubert,
when the Republics of Stellaland and Goshen were
1897] SPIRIT OF THE VOORTREKKERS 271
established under Kruger's protection ; (2) Kruger's
attempt to annex Swaziland ; (3) Ferreira's raid
into Rhodesia ; and (4) Kruger's advances to Lo
Bengula. He did, however, admire the old Voor-
trekkers' spirit, and he fully appreciated their value
as pioneers, and he welcomed them as such. The
roving spirit and dislike of authority caused the ex-
odus from the old Cape Colony of the Voortrekkers,
who, impatient under the British control ever since
the emancipation of their slaves on December 1,
1835, compensation for which was only payable in
England, trekked north and founded the Transvaal ;
and the same roving spirit and love of adventure
extant in them made Rhodes select them as
pioneers and settlers.
In 1884 he, against the wishes of Sir Charles
Warren, insisted on the Dutch filibusters getting
title to the farms they had jumped in Mankoroane's
territory. In 1889 the columns of occupation of
Mashonaland contained a large number of South
Africans, while a separate trek was brought up by
Laurence van der Byl. In 1891 the filibusters,
under Ferreira, who tried to rush across the Lim-
popo, were allowed to settle on farms at Enkeldoorn
instead of being driven out. In 1892 a Dutch
trek of about seventy were sent as pioneers to
occupy Gazaland, where they founded Melsetter.
In the Matabele wars of 1893 and 1896 the
" Afrikander " Corps, under Raaf and Van Niekerk,
did yeoman service ; and in 1897 Rhodes despatched
another Dutch trek to Lake ^'gami. Even to-
day the " Dutchman " is welcomed as a settler in
Rhodesia, though he is often of the type who, when
272 RHODES AND THE DUTCH [cH. xii
asked which district he would prefer, inquires,
" Waar is de meeste wild ? " (" Where is the most
game ? ")
The ordinary rank and file of the Bond
followers are ignorant and illiterate, and blindly
follow their leaders, and have as fond a faith in
their predicants (priests) as the Irish peasantry, and
the leaders are well aware that their ignorance is
an asset in control to them, and they have as much
interest in keeping them ignorant as the Russian
authorities have in keeping their mujiks from
thinking for themselves. They are strongly bound
together by the strong tie of language. They are
encouraged to use a bastard dialect — the Taal —
which has no merit beyond its wide range of
expletives culled from Dutch, French, Portuguese,
and Malay. The Bantu has none, or those would
have been borrowed too to add to the vocabulary
of emphatics.
The tie of language has always been a strong
one, and it is inevitable that bilingualism (or
Hertzogism, as it is now called), to which Rhodes
was always opposed, and which he declared was
inimical to the best interests of the country, will
have a retrogressive effect in South Africa.
As individuals Rhodes liked the Dutch South
Africans, whom he referred to as " Nature's gentle-
men." *' I like the Dutch," said he — " I mean
the Dutch as I know them. I do not mean your
van Wyks. The man howled at me and wanted
to have 50,000 EngHshmen for breakfast. That is
not the Dutch as I know them."
The late Colonel Warren had said in a speech
1897] 1*^^ SALT OF THE EARTH 2l^
that if he were given 10,000 men he could walk
through the Transvaal, and no doubt he could
have then ; but van Wyk, in replying, said that
" 50,000 Englishmen would be a breakfast for the
Transvaal ! " And it was to this Rhodes was
alluding.
He used to tell a story of van Wyk, who, he
said, after he had used his persuasive powers on
him for some time, got up and said, " It's no use,
Mr. Rhodes ; at any rate you can't deny that we
(meaning the Dutch of South Africa) are the Salt
of the Earth." " I'd like to know," Rhodes would
say in telhng the story, " where the devil I came
in." And this from one of the supposed en-
lightened ones ruling the destinies of a great
country. Is it a wonder that Sir Gordon Sprigg
called them " demons of ignorance and prejudice " ?
It is nothing unusual, however, to expect from
people who refuse to destroy locusts, for instance,
because it would be sinful to attempt to stay the
hand of the Almighty, by whom the visitation was
sent. The ordinary Dutchman is fully imbued
with the idea that the Boers are the chosen people
of God, and many are extremely angry on being
contradicted. The late James Leonard used to tell
a story of a Boer who quoted the Old Testament
to prove that the natural destiny of the natives was
to be for all time hewers of wood and drawers of
water for the Boers. Nearly every Boer holds this
wholesome doctrine.
Sir Thomas Fuller refers to Rhodes's saying that
he was delighted when van der Walt said in the
House of Assembly that the one thing he was
19
274 RHODES AND THE DUTCH [cH. xii
hoping for was to see Tengo Jabavu ^ sitting side
by side with him in the House. He adds that
Rhodes was glad to hear a typical Boer member
express a desire to have a native in the House.
It is astonishing to think that Sir Thomas Fuller
believed that Rhodes took van der Walt seriously,
though it might have suited him to pretend to do
so at the time he spoke. Rhodes knew his typical
Boer member too well not to see the sarcasm, nor
to know that had it been made seriously Mr. van
der Walt had little hope of having his wish to see
Jabavu at his side realized, for he would not long
have remained a member himself.
Nearly all the Dutch who met Rhodes liked him
personally. Many who were strongly opposed to
him politically used to come and see him at Groote
Schuur, and Rhodes enjoyed talking to them. Just
before the outbreak of the Boer War one Dutch
woman wired to him from the Transvaal begging
him not to risk his life and safety in Kimberley.
Another old Dutchman in the Cape Colony was
asked by a friend who was going up to Groote
Schuur whether he had any message for Rhodes.
" Yes," he repHed in Dutch ; " tell Mr. Rhodes that
if every Englishman were like him I would not
mind being an Englishman myself; but," he added,
" hij moet niet hier met zij verdomde Brandziekte
wet kom " (he must not come here with his con-
founded Scab Act).
If I know anything of my countrymen, their
national traits are essentially suspiciousness and
* Teugo Jabavu — an educated native, who is editor of a native
newspaper.
1897] BOER "SIMPLICITY" 275
slimness (cunning). In every proposition made
they will suspect some trap, and in every offer an
ulterior motive, and in all their negotiations they
will endeavour to leave a loophole, just for eventu-
alities. We hear a lot about the " simple Boer,"
but in most instances he can, with the help of the
cunning he possesses in such marked degree as
almost to amount to brilliance of intellect, hold his
own; and a more striking instance could not be
given than the late President S. J. P. Kruger.
The following is a characteristic Kruger story :
A farmer, dying, left his farm to be divided equally
between his two sons. On the farm was a perennial
spring which both coveted, and the brothers could
not come to an agreement.
They decided to appeal to Kruger, and on their
doing so the President asked for a plan of the farm.
He looked at it, and then handed it to the elder
brother, telling him to draw a line, making what he
considered was a fair division of the farm.
The elder brother did so, not without misgiving,
as he felt he was going to be " had " somehow,
though he did not see how.
He handed back the plan to Kruger after making
the division, and the President asked him whether
he was satisfied with the division. He replied in
the affirmative. " You consider this a fair division? "
asked Kruger. "Yes, President," answered the elder
brother doubtfully. " Very well, then," Kruger
replied, and handing the plan to the younger son
said to him, " Now, you take your choice."
The simplicity of the Boer is about on a par
with that of Bret Harte's Heathen Chinee, and he,
All
276 RHODES AND THE DUTCH [ch. xii
too, can be "childlike and bland, and the sa;
with intent to deceive."
It is generally considered that the happily accom'
plished union of the South African States is but the
first step towards the blending of the two white races
in South Africa. Racialism, however, dies hard, and
as the political parties have divided in the past on
racial lines, no matter what veneer they carried, so
I believe for many a decade the opposing political
forces at the Cape will be the Britisher who stands
for Imperialism as against the back- veld Boer and
his ideal of a South African nation, and the prin-
cipal factor keeping racialism alive is bilingualism.
The bastard dialect known as the " Taal,"
though useless from a literary and commercial
point of view, yet has a sentimental value in the
eyes of those who are brought up in it, and to
whom it has been the medium of education, and
its use tends to throw and bind them together.
A real obstacle to the natural blending of the
white races in South Africa has been removed in
the dispersal of the organization known as the
Afrikander Bond.
Union having been brought about, the avowed
object for which the Bond existed was accom-
plished, and no valid reason could be adduced for
its continuance as a political organization except to
keep racialism alive. Its very existence tended to
defeat the object for which the leaders averred that
they were working — ie, the formation of a South
African nation composed of a blend of both races,
as it was looked upon by both as a race organiza-
tion, and tended to bind together, by the ties of
191 3] AN APOSTLE OF AFRIKANDERDOM 277
language and false patriotism, one race to the
exclusion of the other. Not long after the War I
heard a South African, now holding an important
position in England under the Union Government,
speak in Dutch at a meeting of farmers in the
Cape Colony, and describe the Liberal Party in
England as the "English Bond Party." "Now
you can unite," said he. "The English Bond
Party, in sympathy with the Africander Bond,
is now in power, and we have finished with Cham-
berlain and his party, who caused the War."
It is amongst the rank and file of the Bond
supporters that the danger lies ; the enlightened
section are doubtless sincere enough in their pro-
fessions of loyalty, General Botha going so far as
to declare that no portion of the Empire was more
loyal than the South Africa of to-day.
Be this as it may, and while race feeling as race
feeling is declared to be practically dead, a solemn
farce is being enacted in the Union by the pandering
of the enlightened leaders of the Nationalist Party
to their unintelligent and bigoted followers in the
matter of the use of the Taal.
Amongst these monuments of stubborn ignor-
ance the hope that the Taal may be forced into
universal use in South Africa is a very live one,
and it would be hard to persuade them that they
are pursuing a chimaera.
General Hertzog has been described as the
apostle of Afrikanderdom. Supported by ex-Presi-
dent Steyn and General Christiaan de Wet, he is to
the back- veld Boer the inheritor of the Afrikander
tradition, the wearer of the mantle of Kruger.
278 RHODES AND THE DUTCH [cH. xii
General Botha, from the formation of his first
cabinet, consistently preached conciliation between
the two races, but this by no means coincided with
General Hertzog's views. He strongly condemned
that policy, and speaking as representative of the
Government gave utterance to views which were
certainly not held by the Prime Minister nor his
colleagues. He, moreover, opposed strenuously the
immigration advocated by General Botha, stating
emphatically that he would "first of all assist the tens
of thousands now in the country to get on the land
before he would assist one single man from outside."
An impossible situation was created, for, as
General Botha stated, "the Government seemed
to speak with two voices."
General Hertzog, despite the differences between
himself as leader of the ignorant back-velders and
General Botha, supported by the more enlightened
section of the South African Party, showed no
inclination to resign his portfolio, and nothing
remained for General Botha but to dissolve the
Government by his own resignation.
General Botha then formed his second cabinet,
leaving General Hertzog out to stump the country
on his claim for the paramountcy of the " Op-regte
Afrikander " and the Taal which he would force
down the throat of every one in the country.
The ideal of the English-speaking section of a
great South Africa as a member of the partner-
ship of nations forming the British Empire is as
dear to that section as the paramountcy of the
Afrikander is to the back-velder. Organization is,
however, lacking.
191 3] THE TAAL IN RHODESIA ^79
The insistence of the Dutch-speaking section on
the universal use of the Taal is a breach of the
bargain concluded at the National Convention for
" equal rights for both languages."
The claim for everything to be printed in both
languages costs the country an enormous sum,
while railway-station and public-office notices are
posted in both — the ," Dutch " being often more
puzzling to the Boer than to the Briton.
Some of the notices are farcical : ** Turf Klub "
is given as the Dutch for Turf Club, "Sports
Klub" for Sporting Club, "Pony en Galloway
Klub" for Pony and Galloway Club, while an
attempt is even made to translate the names of
places and men, such as Oost-Londen for East-
London and " Blij-Klip " for Gladstone.
It is, however, in the statute-book that the
result of bilingualism is to be feared ; and wide
discrepancies have already been found between the
English and Dutch versions of some of the Acts of
Parliament.
So far Rhodesia is not affected, but if a cogent
reason exists why Rhodesians will strenuously
oppose inclusion in the Union of South Africa it
is the use of the Taal. Rhodesians will have none
of it, and if it is to be forced upon the English-
speaking inhabitants of South Africa Rhodesians
will retaliate by insisting upon the use of English
and English only, and their destiny will be by
every means in their power to avoid inclusion in
the United States of South Africa until they can
come in with sufficient strength to restore the
British balance.
CHAPTER XIII
rhodes's daily life
On the Veld
Rhodes lived on the veld. He was always happiest
when in camp with the miles of trackless veld
around him. The actual trekking did not appeal
to him overmuch, but he enjoyed being out far
from the busy hum of cities and the petty annoy-
ances to which he was subject in the congregations
of men.
He slept better under kaross or sheepskin on the
hard ground or the seats of his wagonette than he
did at home, and displayed a healthier appetite at
the little camp-table in the shade of a mopani tree
than he did at home. It was rest for him — rest
which he often sorely needed, and which he
certainly appreciated to the full.
When trekking, he usually had a travelling
wagonette in which he and his guests drove, and
another which was occupied by his invaluable
Tony de la Cruz, who was valet, cook, and barber
combined. This second wagonette carried the
cooking outfit, provisions, and stores. As a rule,
too, Rhodes had one or two riding-horses with the
380
1 897] A HORSE DEAL 281
caravan, and in this case he would ride the greater
part of the day.
On one occasion on the old Hunters* Road we
were within a day's journey of Bulawayo, and we
passed a man with a drove of horses, amongst
which was a fine-looking chestnut. Rhodes put his
head out of the wagonette and shouted, " That's
my horse. That's the one 1 want." We stopped,
and the horse was saddled. Rhodes inquired the
price, and was told £125. "Is he salted?"^ he
inquired. " Oh, yes," was the reply. ** I'll give
you a twelve months' guarantee with him." The
bargain was closed, and Rhodes rode oiF on the
horse. He died of horse-sickness within a month.
I saw the " Coper " years afterwards, and we
spoke of the deal. He laughed and said, ** Well,
I knew nothing about the horse ; I'd only had him
six weeks."
Rhodes was very particular about his camping-
ground, and used to choose the spot for a camp
himself, as far as possible from where any other
wagon had camped.
" I insist on having a clean camp," he said once to
a friend. " Grimmer and le Sueur, of course, would
simply revel in the dust and dirt of an old outspan ;
and so / always choose the place for an outspan."
^ Salted. — After a horse has had horse-sickness, which used to carry
off about 99 per cent, of the horses in Rhodesia, he is said to be
" salted," and is very unlikely to get it again. He enhances very
much in value, despite the fact that the salting process takes all the
spirit out of them, ruins their paces, and makes stumblers of them.
It is usual in buying a horse alleged to be salted to demand a twelve
months' guarantee, and these are freely given on the otf-chance of the
horse living for twelve months, although these guarantees are legally
not worth the paper they are written on.
282 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch. xiii
" You can always tell a police camp," he used to
say, " by the empty tins and bottles scattered about.
Oh, I can just picture them with the basins half
full of soapy water dotted with dead flies, and
shelves of tins and bottles half full of jam and
pickles."
If, of necessity (lack of water or anything of that
sort), we had to camp near one of the coaching-
stables, he would make the drivers pull off at least
half a mile from the stables and well off the road.
All along the road there were trading stores,
and they were built at the coach-stations. Rhodes
seldom went near them ; but one day he walked
into one, and greeted the proprietor with, " Well,
and how are you getting on ? "
The storekeeper, none too affably, replied, " How
do you expect us to get on when people like you,
who can afford to spend money, carry your own
stores and never come near us."
Rhodes just gave his little whine, and after con-
sultation with Tony bought up the whole of the
storekeeper's stock, to the latter's delight. This,
however, was changed to perplexity a short while
afterwards, when some people passing through
required some stores and the storekeeper had
nothing to sell them. He had to approach
" the Old Man " then, and buy some of the stuff
back to supply his customers.
All along the route after that Rhodes made it a
point to stop at every store, and told me to go
in and spend some money. It was free drinks
galore for every idler round the stores after that.
At one store, however, Rhodes received a shock.
1897] POLO ON THE VELD 283
The wagonette had broken down. Tony had run
out of fresh meat, and as the store looked nice and
clean Rhodes decided to spend the night there.
We (three of us) went in to dine. We had the
ordinary store dinner — a tough beefsteak and a
few tinned things, with two bottles of champagne
and two of stout ; and we were provided with clean
beds and breakfast. Then I was presented with
the bill. It amounted to £18. Rhodes never went
near the place again.
Some of these storekeepers had been in vastly
different paths of life. At one place the pro-
prietor was an old man with a splendid little
library, and with the whole air of a scholar. He
was a garrulous old man, and quoted yards of
Shakespeare to us, and we left him feeling rather
depressed.
At another lonely store, on top of a hill, we
found the scion of a noble house all alone — not
even a nigger piccanin near. This sportsman was
careering about on a donkey, playing polo with a
condensed milk-tin and a stick he had fashioned out
of a broom-handle. I called out to him, and as he
went on with his game he shouted out, " All right :
go in and help yourselves. I'm busy."
They did not last long — these gentlemen of the
road. The loneliness, palliated only by the passing
of the coach twice a week, led to overdoses of
whisky, or, worse still, bottles of chlorodyne and
so on to morphia.
The police at the little outlying stations were
in almost as bad case. They seldom or never had
horses or anything to ride, and had to pass the time
284 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch. xiii
wandering round their dusty camps, hating and
loathing the sight of one another more and more
every day, as is always the case when two or three
men are immured together, the only break in their
day often being the call to their bully-beef and
damper.
I remember passing an outpost in the Matoppos
once where there were a sergeant and twelve men —
quite a big post — and when 1 returned that way
three months later I saw the graves of eleven of
them.
"Die? Of course they'll die," said Rhodes
once, ** as long as they lie on their backs and read
* Tit-Bits.'"
Rhodes never travelled very fast, unless there
was some particular reason for doing so. We
usually got away very early in the morning,
and camped for breakfast. Then another trek
until about eleven, when we'd camp again, and not
go on until about three, when we'd trek until sun-
down, and camp for dinner and the night.
On the veld Rhodes shaved regularly every
morning, and then solemnly walked off and buried
the paper he had used to wipe the razor on. " I
believe I should shave if I were dying," he said.
A bucketful of water was also kept for him, even
when water was very scarce. This was heated, and
he was able to have a sort of bath with the aid of
a big sponge. I often had to be content with a
pannikin of water with which to perform ablutions.
" Grimmer and le Sueur hate water," he said to
a lady in London once. " I don't believe they'd
wash at all if I didn't make them,"
1 897] BILTONG ON THE VELD 285
We exacted vengeance for this, however, as,
an opportunity offering, we annexed his bucket of
hot water and sponged one another down. We
discreetly kept out of the way for the rest of the
day.
When his hair required cutting, Tony was ready
with scissors and comb.
At eleven in the morning Rhodes usually had,
like Bismarck, a flagon of champagne and stout
or light Pilsener beer, then Pilsener or hock for
lunch, and with the exception of a gin-and-soda
sometimes at sundown nothing until dinner, at
which he drank champagne and a liqueur of
kiimmel.
Tony used to carry supplies of fresh meat, but as
a rule we shot all we wanted.
Rhodes was very fond of biltong,^ and would sit
in his wagonette with biltong and clasp-knife and
chew it for hours.
One morning a big piece of biltong he had given
to me to put away, and which I had handed to
Tony, could not be found, until Tony's wagonette
was ransacked, and it was unearthed from amongst
pots and pans and what nots. Rhodes grabbed
hold of it, and taking his seat opposite me said, to
my amusement, " Now you shan't have any of this,
as a punishment."
He had a dread of losing himself in the veld,
and would not go a quarter of a mile from the
road by himself. He seemed to have no " bump
of locality." He insisted on one of us being near
him when out shooting in bush country.
* Biltong^dTied venison or beef. American — "jerked meat."
286 RHODES^S DAILY LIFE [cH. xiii
As we were driving along one morning, we saw
a big flock of guinea-fowl just off the road at the
foot of a little kopje. We grabbed our guns and
jumped out. The guinea-fowl made over the top
of the kopje, and 1, being by no means anxious to
be in Rhodes's vicinity while he had a loaded gun
in his hand, called out that I would go round the
left side of the kopje if he would take the right.
But this appealed to him not at all. " You just
come with me," he said. " Some one has got to
lead this party, and as Fm the eldest you'll follow
me." There was no more to be said, but we did
not get any guinea-fowl.
On another occasion we were shooting in some
thick scrub not far from Salisbury. There were
seven or eight guns placed fairly wide apart, but
Rhodes insisted on my walking with him. Of
course it spoiled my sport, nor did he improve
matters by blowing two charges of No. 6 shot into
a leopard which he nearly stepped on. Had it
turned on him he would probably have got a very
severe mauling.
On these shoots Grimmer or I used to have
bets with him as to who would get the biggest
bag, and it was our great delight to " wipe his eye."
Once or twice, too, we have deliberately fired right
across him and produced thunderbolts.
He always used an old hammer-gun, a sort of
" Paradox," which took ball and shot in the left
barrel, but was not rifled. I think he had the gun
some sixteen years. After his death it was given
to me by Colonel Frank Rhodes as a memento,
and is now in my possession.
1 897] '* STUDY THE MAP'' 287
During the heat of the day, while on trek, he
would produce a book and lie under a tree and
read until he fell asleep. He could not take his
favourite Gibbon, but carried a pocket " Marcus
Aurelius," " Plutarch's Lives," Bryce's " American
Commonwealth," and a volume of Plato's Dia-
logues (Professor Jowett's edition).
He also had a large map of Africa, on which
he scribbled and drew his proposed railway and
telegraph routes. *' Study the map," he often said.
" You should always study the map."
On the veld we often met men who were out
prospecting or roaming about in the objectless
way many Rhodesians do, and Rhodes would
stay and chat to them about their work, and
invite them to meals with him, or supply
them with anything he could spare that they
required.
A prospector had his camp near ours once in
the veld, and Rhodes's supplies had for once run
short. The prospector was, however, " dying for
a drink," and resorted to the expedient of develop-
ing a dose of fever accompanied by fits of ague.
Rhodes then produced our last bottle of brandy,
and the patient's eyes glistened, but not with fever.
He seized the bottle as if it were the chance of a
lifetime, and nearly filled a tumbler. " Here, hi 1 "
said " the Old Man," grabbing the bottle—" that'll
do." The next morning he went to see how the
patient was, and although the latter developed a
fine fit of shivering, quinine and not brandy was
prescribed.
When at his huts on the Matoppo farms, he felt
S88 RHODES^S DAILY LIFE [ch. Xill
that he was more or less on a holiday. He would
rise early (sometimes taking a gun) and ride out
over the farms, or go into the Matoppos.
Whatever work was going on he would go into
every detail of and offer suggestions, whether it
were the building of a new hut or the construction
of a dam. His suggestions were often impractic-
able and embarrassing to the man in charge ; but
he would be humoured, and the adoption of his
suggestions commenced and then changed as soon
as he had left.
Two or three friends were nearly always with
him, and the luncheons and dinners were merry
parties, as he was usually in good humour, and
would chaff first one and then the other ; and, as
he used to say, " shame some energy " into the
"young men."
He was never tired of sitting and gazing at the
Matoppo Hills just across the valley ; and the
changing lights on them in the early dawn or
setting sun would rouse enthusiasm in any one.
Rhodes had a round dining-hut built, which had
no sides, the roof being supported by bare poles,
so that while at meals he could view the scenery
all round. It was in this hut that his coffin lay
during the night before his burial.
He insisted on everything on the kopje being
scrupulously clean and an empty whisky or other
case kept at the door of each hut for papers,
matches, etc.; and the sight of empty provision
tins in his vicinity produced scathing remarks as to
** pigs " and " wallowing," etc.
1898] SOLITUDE OF TABLE MOUNTAIN 289
At Groote Schuur
When he was at Groote Schuur, the place he
had "created," he was at home. It was all-
sufficient for him really, as he could leave in his
library all the disturbing elements of his political
life, and after a few minutes' ride he could be in
perfect solitude, communing with his God, with
the precipitous crags of Table Mountain rising
behind him and the vast expanse of Hottentots*
Holland and the ocean at his feet.
He wandered about the estate a good deal by
himself; and when he felt disturbed a favourite
trick of his was to get on to a horse and ride off
to the slopes of the mountain, which rose directly
behind the house, and he would alight and lie
dreaming for hours under the shade of fir or
silver-tree.
It was as well to follow these solitary rides of
his, as he had a knack of carrying important letters
or papers with him, and leaving them lying where
he had dismounted to read them.
He used, as a rule, to rise very early and go for a
ride, usually with one or two friends, and then return
for breakfast ; but sometimes there was some
important matter he wanted to attend to, and then
he would send for his secretary at daylight, and
in his pyjamas pace up and down, either in the
office or on the back stoep, with a cup of his
favourite Blantyre coffise, dictating, and then go
off, throw on his white flannel trousers, and mount
for his ride.
When Rhodes started on to anything, he gave
20
.xu^
290 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch.
one no peace until it was finished. In the hours
of early dawn he has started me off on something,
and lunch-time has found one still sitting in
pyjamas driving the pen, while Rhodes would
come in every now and then with a " Well, how
are you getting on ? " and a tweak of the ear.
At other times he would rise at earliest dawn,
and sit on the back stoep in his favourite big arm-
chair and watch the mountain crags light up in
colours of bronze and blue in the rays of the
rising sun. At this time he would glance through
the morning papers, but never spent much time
on them.
His forenoons were usually spent in Cape Town,
about six miles off; and he would drive in in his
Cape cart, and at the offices of the Chartered
Company transact his official business and return
to lunch. After lunch at Groote Schuur he
usually retired to his bedroom with a book or
several books, and come down about 5 p.m. for
tea on the back stoep. He liked his tea very
strong — almost black.
When the House of Assembly was sitting, how-
ever, he spent his forenoons at Groote Schuur, and
drove to Cape Town in the afternoon, coming out
to dinner and returning afterwards. The secretary
to the Chartered Company would then bring out
his official papers to be dealt with before dinner.
On the back stoep, which was, perhaps, his
favourite resort, a receptacle was always at hand
for cigarette and cigar ends, matches, etc., which
he hated to see lie about. On one occasion a
visitor chanced to light a pipe and throw the match
1898] CHESS AND BRIDGE 201
on to the stoep. Rhodes, to the discomfiture of
the visitor, immediately got up and picked up the
match, which he solemnly deposited in the proper
receptacle, and then resumed his seat and the
conversation.
He often sat for hours after dinner talking, but
would now and then play a game of billiards — at
which, however, he was not much good. He
played a fair game of pyramids, which was his
favourite billiard game. Latterly he played bridge,
but was not a good player. He disliked anything
like high stakes, though in his old Kimberley days
he and his associates played " unlimited loo."
He played a good game of chess, but I never
knew him to play chess except on board ship,
when he would play every day throughout the
voyage.
Rhodes took an interest in every little thing
being done on the estate. It has so often been
said and written of him that he disregarded details,
but, as a matter of fact, in any matter in which
he was engaged it would be found that he had,
before arriving at a decision, thrashed it out to the
minutest detail.
As to his work, he was impatient with his letters,
and one would have to wait for an opportunity of
getting his instructions upon such as one could not
deal with oneself. A telegram he would always
look at at once, and if it were important he would
reply to it at once. In the middle of luncheon,
for instance, he would bid one get a telegram-book
or a note-book, and the wires would be sent off
before luncheon was resumed.
292 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch. Xiil
When he wished to reply to a wire or had been
discussing some matter on which he had decided to
telegraph, he would say, " Come now, let us make
a telegram " — it was a favourite expression of his.
When he wrote notes or letters himself, he was
often very careless about spelling, addresses, and
what not. Witness his spelling in his will, nearly
all the names of his executors wrongly except, I
believe, Beit. Grey I have know him spell Gray ;
Rosebery with two r's, Roseberry ; Michell,
Mitchell ; Jameson, Jamieson ; Hawksley, Hawk-
esley ; Milner, Millner. In the clause of his will
relating to Stead he spells embarrass with one r.
I have known him write to a titled lady as
" Dear Mrs. " ; and he once dictated a note for
me to send to a " Mrs. ," a name I did not
know, and to my horror I got a very formal reply,
commencing, "Lady begs to acknowledge, etc."
At Groote Schuur the guests were, in the main,
political friends, and the conversation as varied as
the colours in Joseph's coat. It really was a
liberal education to listen to the discussions at that
table. But breakfast, especially Sunday-morning
breakfast, was the meal, par excellence, of absorb-
ing interest. If Rhodes had anything he particularly
wished to talk over quietly with any one he invited
him to breakfast, and many of his more intimate
friends used to invite themselves, and the meal was
served in relays.
" It is so much better to talk things over quietly
than quarrelling," he would say. " Come and have
breakfast with me on Sunday, and we'll go and see
the lions afterwards."
1898] PRINCIPAL FRIENDS 293
It was at Groote Schuur, too, that the mug-
wumps^ and doubting Thomases were taken in
hand, and the whole thing was full of amusement
for the onlooker ; Rhodes holding forth to one or
two in the dining-room, another conning a lesson
in the library from Walton, Smartt vigorously-
punching light into another in the billiard-room,
while Jameson chaffed a wholesome idea of the
fitness of things into some one else on the back
stoep.
Many a plot for the destruction of political
opponents was hatched between those walls, and
many a fine clutch of chickens counted what time
the hen was set upon the eggs.
Perhaps his principal friends at the Cape were
the Hon. Sir Edgar Walton, the Hon. Sir Thomas
Smartt, Judge (Sir John) Buchanan, and his
medical adviser. Sir Edmund Stevenson.
Sir Edgar Walton, brother of the late Sir
Lawson Walton, was proprietor of the " Eastern
Province Herald," member of the Cape Assembly
for Port Elizabeth, and became Treasurer- General
under Dr. Jameson's Premiership. He was an able
journalist and a brilliant debater. Rhodes called
him " the best of the bunch," and his presence was
always welcome at Groote Schuur.
Dr. T. W. (now Sir Thomas) Smartt was, with
Rhodes, a member of the Afrikander Bond, and
has held different offices— Commissioner of Public
Works, Colonial Secretary, and Secretary for Agri-
* Mugwump — a name given to the so-called Independent, cleverly
described as " a political mule without pride of ancestry or hope of
posterity."
294 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch. xiii
culture. Like most Irishmen he was a most
eloquent speaker. He suffered from a very bad
and chronic attack of land hunger, and his pet
hobby was agriculture. Rhodes was very anxious
for him to see Inyanga, and said it would make his
mouth water. He visited Rhodes at his huts in
the Matoppos, and was very enthusiastic about
the dam.
Rhodes liked having Sir John Buchanan at
Groote Schuur. He would discuss all the ques-
tions of the day with him, and paid deep attention
to the judge's views.
Mention must also be made of Sir Pieter Faure,
who had a house free of rent on the Groote
Schuur estate. He had held the portfolios of
Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Agriculture,
and Rhodes was very fond of the big-hearted
South African, with strong Imperialist views, who
was wont to chastise the Bond with scorpions.
Rhodes did not keep very late hours at Groote
Schuur — eleven o'clock generally saw him off to
bed — but he often sat at the dining-table talking
and smoking innumerable cigarettes until bed-
time.
His parties were small as a rule, eight to sixteen ;
but now and then a large luncheon would be given,
and then tables would be set out on the back and
side stoeps, and we have had luncheon for over two
hundred and fifty at times. The custom was kept
up after Rhodes's death ; and in the absence of the
executors I once had all the members of a congress
being held at the Cape, while, I think, the members
of the visiting Rugby and Association football
1898] IN LONDON 295
teams have lively and, I trust, pleasant recollec-
tions of their luncheons there.
When at Groote Schuur, he had many invita-
tions ; but seldom went out, except, perhaps, now
and then to lunch with some friends like C. D.
Rudd, who had a place adjoining Groote Schuur.
He much preferred to have his friends with him,
and play the part of host rather than a guest
anywhere.
In London
When in England, Rhodes naturally spent most
of his time in London, as his visits were nearly
always on business. He used at one time to stay
at Claridge's Hotel ; but later always went to the
Burlington, in Cork Street, where he had a suite
of rooms, once a house occupied by the late
Miss Florence Nightingale, and leading to which
there is a wonderful old oak staircase.
In London he kept his habit of rising very early,
and then rode in the Row with one or two friends,
clad, as at home, in his white flannel trousers and
old brown bowler-hat.
His forenoons and often afternoons were spent
at the offices of the British South Africa Company
or De Beers, where he would have piles of matter
submitted to him which had been collected and
kept over pending his arrival.
He was, of course, inundated with invitations to
luncheons and dinners, and a careful record of his
engagements had to be kept ; and this was no easy
matter, as he had a habit of altering them at the
last moment, and he would get hold of the engage-
296 RHODES'S DAILY LIFE [cH. xiii
ment-book and scribble all over it. As a rule, he
lunched out ; but nearly always dined in his rooms
with friends whom he had asked " to talk things
over quietly."
His private correspondence did not amount to
much, as letters were kept at Groote Schuur
to await his return, and my chief duty in London
was to attend to his engagements.
The first day I spent with him in London he
sent me off as his proxy to lunch with his sisters
in Albion Street. I had never met them, but off
I went; and as I had no clothes ready, turned
up in a tweed suit, brown boots, and terai hat, and
this was the first of many occasions on which I
had to go off and act as proxy.
It rather amused me as a rule, but what the
effect was on the people who expected "the Old
Man " and had to be content with the secretary, in
»whom they could only pretend to have the slightest
interest, may be left to the imagination.
On one occasion I struck, however, and that
was when at the last moment he decided to break
a long-standing engagement to lunch with a dis-
tinguished politician, and he invited me to go
instead. I contented myself with calling and
making his apologies, and then went off and
attended to my own affairs.
He often took me to places with him to which
I had not been invited ; and a day or two after
we had arrived in England took me to the house
of a well-known society hostess who had asked
him to lunch, but who hadn't the least idea of
my existence. After luncheon I had been speaking
1898] "AFRICAN SAVAGES'' 297
to her for a few minutes when he came up,
and said, " Well, do you find him of a sym-
pathetic nature ? He was horribly in love on
the voyage with a woman ten years older than
himself."
It was on the same day, I think, that he intro-
duced me to a noble duke, and unthinkingly I
gripped his hand rather hard. He was a slight-
built man, and turned to Rhodes, wringing his
hand, and said, " I wish to God, Rhodes, that you
would not bring these African savages over here.
He's smashed my fingers."
Having a good deal of spare time on my hands,
he used to suggest things for me to see, and in-
sisted on my doing a sort of tourist's round to
the Tower, St. Paul's, and Madame Tussaud's,
all of which my soul abhorred.
In London Rhodes, to his discomfort, wore the
conventional frock-coat and silk hat, which always
looked too small for him. It was wonderful how
familiar his features were to the passers-by in the
London streets ; and as we drove to the City, men
every here and there along the route would touch
their hats to him. For amusement I returned
these salutes, and Rhodes turned to me, and said,
"Here, you know, those people are not bowing
to you — they are saluting me."
I said, "Nothing of the sort. They are all
friends of mine."
His week-ends he usually spent with some friend
out of town, or at Miss Louisa Rhodes's at Iver,
and 1 was generally left to my own devices.
Although he let one do pretty well what one
298 KHODES'S DAILY LIFE [ch. xiii
liked, it annoyed him for one to be out of the way
when he required anything.
On one occasion he was going to Tring for the
week-end, and had arranged to leave at about
6 p.m. on Saturday, returning on Monday morning.
I accordingly went off with some friends, and did
not return to the hotel until Sunday evening, when
to my astonishment a servant came in, and said,
"Mr. Rhodes asked for you before he left this
morning."
I replied, " But he was to have gone off yester-
day!"
" Yes," he answered ; " but he was detained last
night, and left at eight this morning."
" Well, what happened ? " I asked.
** Oh, Mr. Rhodes had and and
with him " (mentioning the names of two B.S.A.
Co.'s directors), " and told me to go to your
room and call you, and I came back and told him
you had not been back since yesterday afternoon."
" And what did he say ? " inquired I.
" Oh, he just turned round, and said, * Of course,
I remember ; he told me he was going to Oxford.' "
As a matter of fact, I had locked away some
papers he wanted to take with him, and he must
have been much annoyed, but he never mentioned
the matter to me again.
He was not overfond of theatres, and when he
did go there usually were complaints of his talking
audibly all through the piece ; but I think the one
play he was impressed by was "Julius Caesar,"
produced by Beerbohm Tree in 1898, with his
own splendid representation of Mark Antony.
I90I] "DESECRATION" ON THE NILE 299
Rhodes always used to speak most enthusi-
astically of Rannoch Lodge, which he had hired
from Sir Robert Menzies, with the fishing and
shooting ; but I never accompanied him to Scot-
land, nor did I go with him up the Nile, about
which he used to enthuse, but complain of what
he called the "desecration of the ruins" by the
carving and painting of names on them by tourists,
a practice which he always detested, but which
was, however, general even in the days of
Herodotus.
CHAPTER XIV
RHODES'S LAST DAYS AND THE PRINCESS
RADZIWILL
The " affair " of the Princess Radziwill is so closely
connected with Rhodes's last days that I am
taking them together. It was in 1896 that
Rhodes was dining at the house of the late Mr.
Moberly Bell, and next to him at dinner was a
distinguished-looking woman still preserving traces
of great beauty. This was the Princess Katherine
Radziwill, who was destined to play a prominent
part in the circumstances attending the tragedy
of Rhodes's death, and who contributed to hasten-
ing his end. Russian-Poland is full of Radziwills,
some of them very wealthy.
Princess Katherine Radziwill was Russian by
birth, and the widow of a Polish nobleman. A
son of hers served the British during the Boer
War. Rhodes was interested in the Princess's
conversation and her knowledge of South African
affairs, and there is also no doubt that her title
impressed him. She had been a lady-in-waiting
to the German Empress, and had also incidentally
been in the pay of Bismarck, engaged in his secret
service. She had all the Russian natural instinct
300
1897] A MASCOT 301
and capacity for intrigue. Rhodes spoke very
freely to the Princess, and she then told him that
it was her intention at some future time to proceed
to Africa, and he expressed the hope that they
might meet. The Princess had every intention that
they should meet again. Rhodes next heard of
the Princess while we were camped on the veld
on our way to Umtali from Salisbury in 1897.
I had just received the mail, and Rhodes and Sir
Charles Metcalfe were amusing themselves working
out the number of people who would gain a sight
of the procession on the occasion of the late Queen
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Amongst the letters
was one from the Princess Radziwill, in which she
referred to their meeting at Moberly Bell's, and
added that the reason for her writing was that
she was " blessed or cursed with the gift of second
sight," and she predicted that within six months
an attempt would be made upon his life, and she
besought him to take every precaution. She en-
closed " as a safeguard " a small gold Russian coin,
which she said had been given by an old gipsy " to
my cousin," SkobelefF, and which he wore through
all his campaigns ; and she cautioned Rhodes
to keep it as a mascot, which would assuredly
preserve him from the danger which threatened
him. Rhodes kept the letter, and asked me to
put the little coin away carefully; but, I under-
stand, it has since been lost. I need hardly say
that her anxiety was groundless, as no attempt
was ever made on his life. He never anticipated
nor guarded against any, though his feeling was
not shared by every one in 1896-7, and although
302 RHODES'S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
he never knew it men were stationed behind
the big firs in the avenue leading up to Groote
Schuur when in his Cape cart he used to
drive in and out from Cape Town at night. He
would probably have been much annoyed had he
known.
In 1900 the Princess ascertained the probable
date of Rhodes's sailing from Southampton, and
she promptly proceeded there. She had, however,
to wait for six weeks before Rhodes sailed, as he,
as usual, put off his departure from week to week.
At last, however, he embarked on June 18 (signi-
ficant date) ; and the first night out, while seated
at dinner at a small table in the corner of the
saloon, one of which was always reserved for his
party, the Princess sailed into the saloon, came
straight to Rhodes's table, and selected a seat.
In common politeness Rhodes had to consent to
her forming one of his party, and so she remained
to the end of the voyage.
The Princess told Rhodes that she proposed
doing journalistic work in his interests, and she did
so, also later on founding a paper called " Greater
Britain," for which she asked and obtained his
promise of financial assistance. She took a house
at the Cape, and quickly got to know people,
although she was continually in a state of financial
embarrassment.
She formed a great friendship with a Mrs.
Scholtz, the wife of a well-known medical man,
who was a great friend of Rhodes, and to a large
extent in his confidence.
It was while Rhodes was up country that the
IQOO] THE PRINCESS'S VISITS SOS
Princess got into grave financial straits, and got
Mrs. Scholtz to write to Rhodes for assistance.
Rhodes thereupon wrote to Mrs. Scholtz
authorizing her to pay certain debts the Princess
had incurred, and to give her a sum of money,
adding at the same time that she could do no good
in South Africa, and that the money was given her
on condition that she returned to Europe.
She faithfully carried out the condition, but as
Rhodes pathetically said at the trial, " She came
back again."
She did not worry Rhodes much on his later
stay at the Cape when she had returned, except
that she would frequently arrive at Groote Schuur
at or just before lunch-time, and announce that she
had come to lunch. As a rule, Rhodes would see
her coming up the drive, and either make for his
bedroom or get to the stable-yard by a back way,
and drive off to C. D. Rudd's for lunch, leaving
some one to explain things to the Princess. The
latter would sometimes feign indignation, and
declare that she was invited to lunch, and in
3upport produce a telegram from Mrs. Scholtz —
" Mr. Rhodes expects you to lunch to-day." These
telegrams, it was afterwards found, the Princess
used to send from Cape Town to herself
I was still far from well, but although I was
doing " scratch work " only for Rhodes I saw a good
deal of the Princess, and I am sure she cordially
hated not only Jourdan, but Grimmer and myself.
Now and then she would catch Rhodes before he
could get away, and after lunch would insist upon
his giving her a personally conducted tour round
304. RHODES^S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
the house. I think Jourdan was about this time
laid up in hospital for an operation. When Rhodes
had to take the Princess over the house, he
invariably signalled for one of us to accompany
him, as he had a horror of being left alone vi^ith the
lady, and often to annoy him we would pretend
not to see his signals of distress. Then we would
saunter round the house, the " guard " earning
black looks from the Princess, and she would go
into every bedroom, none of which Rhodes would
be induced to cross the threshold of, fearful perhaps
that she would repeat the experiment of fainting
on his shoulder, as she once did on board ship.
Rhodes, in fact, avoided her as much as he
possibly could, until his departure for England in
1901.
Although he avoided her, at the luncheon table
he used to talk very freely to her of everything
that was going on ; and sometimes we were sur-
prised at the thoughts he gave expression to,
especially as he knew she was corresponding for
French and Russian papers.
I remember well his saying to her that he con-
sidered that Russia's natural destiny was gradually
to extend to the shores of the south and absorb
Manchuria, and he could not understand why some
Russian statesman did not realize this and actively
advocate a policy of extension in Manchuria, and
through Chinese Turkestan and Mongolia.
Towards the end of 1901 Rhodes's health had
already begun to decline rapidly, and was the cause
of his hurrying back to London from Egypt in
December.
I902] PURCHASE OF DALHAM 305
I arrived in London from Salisbury on January 1,
1902, and I think Rhodes arrived the next day. I
went down to meet his ship, and there were a few
others, including Alfred Beit, Maguire, and the
late Francis Jones, secretary to the Chartered
Company. To say that I was shocked at Rhodes's
altered appearance but feebly expresses the feeling
with which I regarded him, even after the expira-
tion of a period of only four months. His face
was bloated, almost swollen, and he was livid
with a purple tinge in his face, and I realized
that he was very ill indeed. I mumbled something
about being glad to see him when I shook hands,
but I felt too shocked to say much.
Jourdan was now sent off to the Cape, and
Rhodes was occupying himself chiefly in nego-
tiating for the purchase from Sir Robert Affleck of
Dalham Hall, Newmarket, where he hoped to spin
out his life in the cooler breezes of the heath.
The purchase was all but completed, when came
a bombshell in the shape of a cable from Sir Lewis
Michell to the effect that the Princess was again
negotiating bills for large amounts purporting to
be made by Rhodes. (Michell had cabled in the
middle of the year that certain forged bills were
in circulation.) There was a number of bills all
signed in blank, and those the Princess had offered
for discount amounted to about £29,000 in all. A
cable was immediately sent repudiating liability
and declaring the documents to be forgeries.
It appears that the Princess had taken certain
bills to a quondam friend of Rhodes, one T. J.
Louw, an ex-member of the Legislature, with a
21
S06 RHODES'S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
view to discounting them. Louw made no
inquiries, but discounted bills for £4,000, charging
40 per cent, for doing so. Now, although the
reports of the trial do not attach any blame to
Louw, it is hard to imagine that Louw did not
have doubt about the signature when he charged
the usurious interest he did. Rhodes's name on a
bill would be, to the ordinary man, as safe as the
Rothschilds, which Louw knew as well as any man,
and good enough security for him to charge a very
small rate for. As a matter of fact, I don't think
Rhodes ever signed a bill in his life. He would
finance himself frequently by overdrawing by
means of cheques, but his credit was practically
unlimited. However, Louw, instead of proceeding
criminally against the Princess, immediately in-
stituted civil proceedings for the recovery of his
money, and Rhodes was cabled to to defend the
action.
His medical advisers and friends strongly op-
posed his arriving at the Cape in February, which
is an exceedingly hot month, and he was very
much averse to going himself. He applied for his
evidence to be taken on commission, on the ground
of urgent private affairs, but was informed that this
could only be arranged on the plea of ill-health.
This he would not plead, because of the probable
effect on the market, just as in 1897 he was much
annoyed that ill-health was given as the reason for
his absence from the Bulawayo Railway opening
festivities. Sir Lewis Michell then cabled that
unless he appeared to defend, judgment would be
given against him, and he then determined to sail
1902] THE PRINCESS'S DIARY 307
for the Cape. " I must go and defend my honour,"
he kept saying, " and I can only do it by upsetting
the bona-jides of the Princess." " To upset the
bona-fides of the Princess " Rhodes wanted to
subpoena Lord Sahsbury and Lady Edward Cecil, as
the Princess had completely hoodwinked Rhodes
in regard to interviews she alleged she had had with
Lord Salisbury on the political situation in South
Africa, Rhodes's status, and the attitude of " the
Dutch." She supplied Rhodes, through Jourdan,
with extracts from her diary, in which records of
the interviews were kept. " I go," says she in one
entry (a Sunday), " to Hatfield, and find the family
are all at church. I walk through the lovely
grounds slowly to meet them. First comes So-and-
so and So-and-so, and last of all comes Lord
Salisbury himself" She goes on to say how she
joins him, and how they walk together, and stop
" at the grave of that dear woman, the late Lady
Salisbury, her friend ! " and talk of her and of
various matters until " At last, says Lord Salisbury,
Princess, what about Africa? What is Rhodes
doing there?"
Then she goes on to retail the whole of the
conversation, in which she establishes herself a
staunch advocate of Rhodes and his policy and
the hold he has on all sections of the community.
" But, Lord Salisbury," she reports to have said,
** is there not a danger of a man like that being
tempted to play the part of a Washington ? " and
so on ad lib. Then she naively adds, " I hurry
home to write all this down before the actual
words escaped my memory ! " The whole bears
308 RHODES S LAST DAYS [cH. xiv
the stamp of truth, but was conclusively proved to
be a total fabrication and only a product of the
Princess's fertile imagination. Lady Edward Cecil
declared emphatically that the alleged interviews
never took place.
At this time Rhodes had taken to lying in bed
until midday, which was very contrary to his
ordinary habits, and he had given up his early-
morning rides, although the horses were sent round
as usual. The horse he usually rode in the park
he purchased, and we took it to the Cape, and after
his brother's death Colonel Frank Rhodes took the
horse back to Dalham. Rhodes became very irrit-
able and nervous, and was in constant pain. Several
doctors examined his heart, and strongly impressed
on me the necessity for his keeping very quiet and
not being excited, nor having his temper aroused.
They were trying days, as he was in a continual
fume when thinking of the Princess. I think he
was just as much annoyed at being forced to alter
the arrangements he had made as anything else.
He made up his mind to sail quite suddenly, and
on the Friday night before sailing he sent me off
at midnight to get Bourchier F. Hawksley, Alfred
Beit, and one or two others whom he wished to
see. Hawksley came to the Burlington at about
2 a.m., and they talked for an hour or two. As
Hawksley turned to leave the room and say good-
bye, he made some remark which did not meet
with Rhodes's approval, and he said, "My dear
Hawksley, you are the most cha-a-arming fellow
in the world, but you are a y 1."
We sailed on January 16 or 17 on the " Briton,"
1902] A BAD FALL 309
Dr. Jameson, Sir Charles Metcalfe, Rhodes, the
Hon. William Grenfell, and I composing the party.
The ship was not very crowded, but as we had
booked so late the only cabins available were below
the main deck and very hot. Rhodes had a look
at his, and flew into a rage and went straight
up on deck. I went up to see what I could do,
and the chief officer immediately offered to give
up his own cabin, which was on the boat deck, and,
with the addition of an electric fan, as cool as any
part of the ship. Rhodes was immensely pleased
with the change, and asked me whether the officer
would be offisnded if he offered him " a present for
his children." Knowing my officer, I thought to
myself that he would not mind being offended in
that way every day of his life, but answered very
gravely that I thought it was improbable. Rhodes
made me get his cheque-book, and wrote a cheque
for £50, with which I went in search of my officer
friend, and made him " drown the insult."
The chief officer s cabin, as a rule, has a writing-
table in it, and one night Rhodes, feeling hot in
his bunk, cleared the table, and taking the mattress
out of the bunk he laid it on the table, purposing
to sleep there, but, of course, the rolling of the
ship caused the mattress to slide off the slippery
table, and Rhodes was precipitated on to the deck,
nearly breaking his nose and injuring his shoulder
and knee. It is a marvel that he was not killed.
He felt very sorry for himself for some days
afterwards.
Rhodes played no chess on this voyage, but he
played a fair amount of bridge. He got very
SIO RHODES^S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
excited several times, especially once when I,
having dealt, declared " no trumps " and he had a
very poor hand. He jumped up, rubbing his hands
up and down his chest, and said, " Now that's
pluck," thinking only of his own hand. Two or
three times, when he was losing two rubbers in
succession and his opponents about to make game,
he quietly sneaked out and went off to bed ; and
once, when we were playing the first rubber and
our opponent put down a " grand slam " hand with
a hundred aces, he had one look at them, and then
saying, " Oh, my God, I'm off* to bed ! '' he jumped
up and left. When playing one night with cards
that had been used several times, he found himself
and his partner with twenty-six black cards, his
opponents, of course, only having red.
We arrived at Cape Town the day before the
civil case brought by Louw in connection with
the bills came up for trial. Rhodes never slept at
Groote Schuur again, except in death. On the day
of our arrival he went straight down to a cottage
at Muizenberg, on the sea about twelve miles from
his home. It was an unpretentious little place
enough, and at the time of his death he was
building a large house next door to it on the lines
of Groote Schuur.
Rhodes was very much annoyed to find that
the " Radziwill papers " ^ had been filed away by
Jourdan and could not be found, and he told me
to start at once to find Jourdan. He was a
hundred miles away, his home being at Worcester.
It was then about six at night, but I left just
* Every letter the Princess wrote was carefully preserved.
1902] LOUW'S CASE 811
as I was, and managing to get a permit (martial
law was still in force), I boarded a goods-train
early next morning, and arrived at Worcester at
about 11 p.m. I found Jourdan after some diffi-
culty, gave him the message, and caught a train
back at midnight, Jourdan following in the morning.
A telegram would really have brought him sooner,
but Rhodes would not be satisfied unless I under-
took to go up to AVorcester and see Jourdan
personally.
Rhodes installed himself in his cottage, and used
to drive to Groote Schuur and back in his Cape
cart and in a motor which we had brought with us
from England. It was a 12-14 h.p. Wolseley, and
the only car he ever owned, and he was as delighted
with it as a child with a new toy. The first time
it went down to Muizenberg I went down in it,
as Rhodes had sent for me to make a fourth at
bridge — the others being Metcalfe and Jameson —
and I arrived very late, as on nearing Muizenberg
we ran over the head of a small coloured boy, and
I was delayed in getting a doctor for him. I told
Rhodes the reason of the delay, and he immedi-
ately raced off to bed, and next morning early he
came to my room and said, " I hope you have been
to see about the boy you murdered."
Rhodes gave evidence in the action brought by
Louw for recovery on the bills, and repudiated
liability, as he denied that the bills bore his
signature. The verdict accordingly was given in
his favour.
Having obtained judgment, he would probably
have let matters in connection with the bills lie.
312 RHODES'S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
and began to speak of returning to England, but
the Princess in her turn immediately commenced
an action against him for payment of the bills.
I accepted service of the summons at Groote
Schuur, and then went and saw him in his bed-
room.
" Damn the woman ! " said he ; " can't she leave
me alone ? What am I to do about it ? "
I replied that the only course would be to prose-
cute the Princess for forging and uttering the bills.
" No, no," said he. " I don't want to do that.
It seems like persecuting a woman."
" Well," I answered, " you have already declared
the bills to be forgeries, and it is positively the only
thing you can do."
"Very well, then," he said after some further
demur, "go and see about it ; but it does seem like
persecuting a woman."
1 accordingly got his legal representative to
come up, and he drew up an affidavit, which Rhodes
signed before Mr. Percy de Villiers, son of Sir
Henry (now Baron) de VilHers, and a warrant was
issued and the Princess arrested.
At this time the Princess had taken a cottage at
Muizenberg, near Rhodes's, and we often passed
her while driving or motoring on the beach road.
On one occasion we overtook her near the cottage,
and Rhodes fancied that she was coming in, where-
upon he hurried indoors, and turning to me said,
"You stand at the gate, le Sueur, and don't let
that woman in, even if you have to use physical
force to keep her out." She passed, however, with-
out a glance or sign of recognition.
1902] DISTRESSING HEAT 313
The heat was intense that February month, and
we vainly hoped for a cooling breeze that would
bring relief to " the Old Man." At Muizenberg
the nights were more or less cool, but at Groote
Schuur by day everything was parched and shim-
mered under the sun's burning rays. The animals
and birds drooped listlessly, and there was hardly a
breath of wind sufficient to rustle the leaves of the
oaks that surround the house, while at night the
earth exuded the heat it had absorbed by day.
Rhodes would wander about the house hke a caged
animal, his clothes all thrown open, his hands thrust
characteristically inside his trousers, the beads of
perspiration glistening on his forehead beneath his
tousled hair as he panted for the breath to sustain
the life within him, which was ebbing slowly away.
Into the darkened drawing-room he would go and
fling himself upon a couch, then would he start up
and huddle himself up in a chair facing my desk in
the anteroom used as an office, and anon painfully
toil upstairs to his bedroom and pace to and fro,
every now and then stopping at the window which
gave him that wondrous view of Table Mountain
that he loved so well, all the time hungrily long-
ing for the cooling breeze which never came. Then,
unable to bear more, he would order the motor and
drive to the cottage at Muizenberg, where he would
sit and watch the waves roll up almost to his door,
and dream.
The Princess was admitted to bail, and retired
to her cottage at Muizenberg, but resolutely
declared that she was too ill to appear at the
preliminary examination, and finally a temporary
314 RHODES'S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
court was held in her cottage. There was an un-
seemly rush into the place as soon as the magistrate
entered, of reporters and the public generally, and
it was an unpleasant duty for me to go on Rhodes's
orders to hear the proceedings. She sat like a
tigress at bay, and assumed such an attitude,
finally pretending to faint, that it was impossible
to continue the proceedings, and the further hear-
ing was taken in the Magistrate's Court in Cape
Town. All this time she used almost daily to
write long letters to Jameson, Metcalfe, or some
other friends, and give herself away badly. It is
impossible to believe that she was not at this time
suffering from some sort of mental aberration, and
I am positive that she suffered from delusions, in
which she had perfect faith.
Dr. Scholtz gave evidence, and stood in the wit-
ness-box looking very ill. He did not give evidence,
however, at the main trial, as he died of pneumonia
before the case came before the High Court.
Rhodes's death also occurred before the trial, and
the evidence given by him and Dr. Scholtz at the
preliminary examination was " declared " to in the
High Court,
When attending the court to give evidence,
Rhodes drove in by cart, and remained sitting in
the cart until his presence in court was required.
Instead of going to a club to lunch he would take
a packet of sandwiches and a medicine bottle of
whisky-and-water.
The Princess was committed to take her trial at
the High Court, and was arraigned and sentenced to
eighteen months' hard labour. She brazened things
I902] GATHERING WEAKNESS 315
out to the end, and made herself very unpleasant in
gaol — so much so that they were glad to see the
end of her.
After her release, which she obtained before the
expiration of her full term of imprisonment on
condition that she left the country, she commenced
an action for damages against the Rhodes Trustees
for £400,000 damages, and altogether the circum-
stances point to a condition of mental aberration.
The giving of evidence at the preliminary ex-
amination of the Princess seemed to have severely
taxed Rhodes's strength, and he became weaker
and weaker day by day, until it was clear to Dr.
Stevenson and Dr. Jameson that no hope remained.
" All right — then send for Michell," was his
remark when Jameson, some weeks prior to his
death, told him that the end was near. He had
been sticking to his room at Muizenberg more and
more for those last few days, and about then he
took to his bed. The nature of his ailment made it
impossible for him to lie down, so he sat upon the
edge of his bed, his hands usually under his thighs
and his back resting against a broad band that was
stretched lengthwise along the bed. To try and
cool the air an extra window was knocked through
the wall and a couple of holes were cut in the ceiling,
above which were placed tins containing ice, and
a punkah was rigged up over his head and kept
going day and night. He wanted Sir Lewis
Michell in order that an addition might be made
to his will, and to give him some instructions as an
executor ; and there is no doubt that he knew weeks
before the end came that the final dissolution was
316 RHODES^S LAST DAYS [cH. xiv
near. He made no complaint, but sat dozing on
the bedside, and now and again his head would fall
forward, and he would start up with a jerk. He
preserved an interest in what was going on, and
insisted on letters being read to him. He had
written to London recommending Jameson's ap-
pointment as a director of the Imperial Cold
Storage, and had told me that when the reply came
I was not to show it to Jameson, but to bring it to
him. The managing director replied that he did
not consider the appointment desirable. I asked
Jameson whether I ought to show it to Rhodes, and
I gave it to him to read. Jameson was furious,
and, strange to say, Rhodes just then asked for it,
and was, if possible, angrier at my having shown
it to Jameson than he was at the objection to the
appointment — just for fear of hurting Jameson's
feelings. It is an extraordinary thing that, in view
of the years of friendship between the two men,
Rhodes did not make Jameson one of his executors
until March 12, 1902, a fortnight before his death.
During these last weeks there were numbers of
callers, but only very few saw him. The Arch-
bishop of Cape Town, who had seen him and had
a long talk at Groote Schuur a little while before,
asked whether he would like to see him, but Rhodes
did not feel equal to it.
Rhodes also insisted on seeing the evening paper,
in which he would, however, merely glance at the
day's bulletin regarding himself. It was deemed
inadvisable for him to see the ordinary alarming
notices, and a special issue was therefore struck off
for him, in which the bulletin merely stated that
1902] WORSE SYMPTOMS S17
" Mr. Rhodes had passed a somewhat restless
night," and added a few commonplaces. He
became more helpless later on, when his legs
became dropsical, and silver tubes were inserted to
draw the fluid off. An oxygen generator was fitted
up at the cottage, and a cylinder was kept at the
bedside, which assisted in preserving the spark of
life. There were present nearly the whole of the
time Dr. Jameson, Dr. Smartt, Dr. Sir Edmund
Stevenson (his regular medical adviser), Hon.E. H.
Walton, his brother Elmhirst, J. Grimmer, Jourdan
and I. Sir William Marriott, P.C., had taken
rooms at Muizenberg, and used to come to Groote
Schuur almost daily. Of course, there were
numbers of callers, but no one was admitted to
see him, while in the vicinity of the cottage a
crowd, probably amounting to hundreds, used to
gather every evening, some in the expectation of
hearing news, while others possibly came out of
ordinary curiosity — the lights being kept on all
night.
When we arrived at the Cape, Grimmer wired
from Inyanga asking whether he was to come
down. Rhodes replied telling him to remain
where he was, but I wired privately to him to
come with all speed. Not long before Rhodes died
he expressed a wish to see Grimmer, and I then told
him that Grimmer would arrive on the following
day. Always devoted to Grimmer, he was as
pleased as possible, but pretended to be extremely
annoyed at my wiring on my own initiative. Until
his death he hardly allowed Grimmer out of his
sight. Under his will he left him £10,000, but
318 RHODES'S LAST DAYS [ch. xiv
Grimmer did not live long to enjoy it, as he died
of fever at Caledon a little over two months after
Rhodes.
One morning I was sent by Dr. Jameson in the
motor-car to get Dr. Stevenson, as Rhodes had
taken a turn for the worse. Rhodes heard the
motor, and asked Jameson who was using it.
Jameson told him it was I, and he got very
angry, and said, " Tell him he is not to use my
car. It is m,y car, and not his." He got very
peevish and irritable, but his moods constantly
changed. During the whole of this time three old
coloured servants were in constant attendance on
him — John Cloete, his coachman, Tony de la Cruz,
his valet, and George Krieger, one of the house
servants from Groote Schuur. Early one morning
Jameson laughingly beckoned me to come and
look through the window, and there I saw George
Krieger sitting bolt upright on a stool in front
of Rhodes, who sat dozing on his bed, his hands
under his thighs, glaring at George with a grim
smile on his face. It appeared that George had
been guilty of some misdemeanour, and as a
punishment Rhodes made him sit bolt upright in
front of him for some hours. Every now and then
George, thinking Rhodes was asleep, essayed to
Vuietly leave the room, when "the Old Man"
would stop him, solemnly shaking a finger at him,
and say, " Sit there — you just sit there."
He got irritable when he heard us tiptoeing in
the other rooms, and preferred us to walk about in
a natural manner. He would call out to know
what we were doing in the evening, and say, "Why
1902] NEARING THE END S19
don't you play bridge instead of sitting about doing
nothing ? "
During Rhodes's last days Jameson was in-
defatigable, and one marvelled at his endurance.
He would be with Rhodes for hours, and then
steal away for a few moments' much-needed rest,
when Rhodes would miss him, and on his "Where's
Jameson ? " the doctor would reappear for another
spell. Towards the end Jameson sometimes almost
went to sleep where he stood.
Telegrams of inquiry arrived in shoals. Queen
Alexandra sent a kind message of sympathy, which
Rhodes much appreciated. The late " Dick "
Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, also wired in
terms of concern, whilst there were hosts of
messages from all parts of the Empire.
Rhodes was allowed to have his own way in
regard to diet and so on during these days. One
night, towards midnight, he asked for a bottle of
stout, and I inquired of Jameson whether he should
have it. " Oh, yes," he replied, " nothing can hurt
him much now," and he had and seemed to enjoy
his stout. A fortnight before he died he ate the
best part of a guinea-fowl and drank a bottle of
hock at midday. About March 23 he seemed to
be sinking, but suddenly developed a craving to go
home to England. (All species of animals, when
they feel the end approaching, wish to go home to
die, and so it was with Rhodes.) Feeling that the
end was near, he became possessed of an intense
longing to go home, and then it was for Jameson
to go and tell him that he would be dead before
he reached the Cape Town docks. For all that he
S20 RHODES^S LAST DAYS [cH. xiv
clung to the idea, and cabins were reserved on
the mail steamer the " Saxon," sailing on March 26.
His cabin was fitted with electric fans, oxygen
tubes, and refrigerating pipes in readiness for him.
Strangely enough, on the morning of Wednesday,
March 26, he rallied considerably — so much so that
Jourdan and I went up to Groote Schuur, and
even Sir Edmund Stevenson did not deem it
necessary to remain at Muizenberg that night.
Some of us even thought it possible that he might
be able to undertake the voyage by the " Saxon."
But a different and a longer voyage was his spirit to
take that very day, for at a few minutes to six that
evening Jameson announced to the crowd who
constantly waited in the vicinity of the cottage
that he had passed away, conscious to the last, and
with the words, " So little done, so much to do,"
upon his lips.
Jourdan and I, at Groote Schuur, received a
telephonic message a few minutes after six, and
immediately drove down to Muizenberg, where
we found at rest, in the stillness of death, the
remains of him, our benefactor, to whom we owed
so much. Jameson took us in, in turn, to have a
last look at him, and for a moment I stood there,
trying to realize the loss, while Jameson turned
and fumbled with the window curtains that he
might hide his own emotion.
CHAPTER XV
THE WILL AND SCHOLARSHIPS
In a small book Mr. W. T. Stead has given an
account as to Rhodes's intentions regarding the
disposal of his wealth. His first intention was,
I believe, to bequeath it to Lord Carnarvon for
public purposes; then to his secretary, Neville
Pickering, to whom he had given instructions as
to the use to be made of it ; then to W. T. Stead,
for objects contained in private instructions, but
whose name, owing to ** eccentricity," he removed
from the list of his executors. He always intended
that his wealth should be used for *' the betterment
of the human race," but in his later years he tried
so to frame his last testamentary disposal of his
money as to ensure as far as possible that his work
should be carried on as though he were still aUve,
and he therefore chose as the executors of his
wishes men whom he had made acquainted with
his ideas and ideals, and to whom he could, with
confidence, give a free hand. While there is a
provision for carrying out his schemes for the Unking
up of Cape Town and Cairo by rail and telegraph
and work for the Union of the South African States,
22 ^^^
322 THE WILL AND SCHOLARSHIPS [cH. xv
the bigger idea pervades the whole document — Le,
the consoHdation of the Empire and its binding
together by means of prosperity acquired through
peaceful commerce — which would be ensured by
the establishment of a better understanding be-
tween those nations of the world who controlled
the world's trade and the powers on the sea,
at the same time bringing to the dwellers in
the Over-Sea Dominions a sense of the great-
ness of the Empire, and perhaps an ambition to
strive towards the consummation of a great
ideal — a United British Empire, closely bound
by the joint cords of commercial interests and
sentiment.
The last amendments to his will were, I think,
made by letter from Egypt. He had, he said, made
sufficient provision for his family, and the bulk
of his wealth was to go to his scholarships. He
naturally chose his beloved Oxford as the centre
in which the scholars were to meet for interchange
of ideas, and after sojourn in which they would
retain a sentiment of common interest. Since the
publication of his will it has been remarked that
America has, in proportion to what has been
allotted to the British Empire overseas, too large
a percentage of scholarships ; and when the idea of
the universal scholarships first occurred to him,
upon his being approached for bursaries for the
South African colleges, he regarded his scholar-
ships rather as a means of bringing into sympathetic
bonds the two great Anglo-Saxon nations. An
Anglo-American combine he rightly regarded as
a formidable factor, and, perchance, foresaw the
I90i] GERMAN SCHOLARSHIPS 323
conclusion of commercial treaties for reciprocal
benefit as a result of the intercourse of subjects
of the two nations commenced at Oxford, which
would ensure to the United Empire her position
amongst the nations for all time.
The tie of language he always looked upon as
a very strong one, and although probably in 1899,
when he executed the main portion of his will, he
was satisfied that he laid the foundation for a close
union between the Mother Country and the Over-
Sea Dominions and the great Anglo-Saxon races
which might consummate in a world-wide combine,
bound by the strong tie of a common language,
together with a sentiment of common interest
produced by the sojourn in the same educational
establishment of the best of the manhood of
America and the British colonies, in 1901, when
he executed the codicil allotting five scholarships to
German students, he had conceived a fresh idea in
that, by means of the same educational tie, the peace
of the world, so necessary to extension of com-
merce, might be assured. By his codicil in 1901
he provides for scholarships for students of German
birth, to the end that an understanding may be
brought about between the three great Powers of
the world by means of the strongest tie that he can
conceive — that of educational relations — knowing
that the existence of such an understanding will
ensure the peace of the world ; in fact, as he says,
make war impossible. It is no mere fad for
securing universal peace that he strives for; but
the idea underlying the whole is the prevention
of disturbances which might lead to the disruption
824 THE WILL AND SCHOLARSHIPS [ch. xv
of the British Empire or the curtailment of a
prosperity or even expansion based upon peaceful
commerce.
The lines upon which the scholars are to
be selected he carefully lays down. The re-
cipients of bursaries are to be chosen (1) for their
literary and scholastic attainments, (2) on account
of their fondness for outdoor sports, (3) for qualities
of manliness, courage, and devotion to duty, and
(4) for moral force of character and instinct of
leadership. These are the qualities which he
deems should distinguish those who are destined
to take the lead in the affairs of their country.
He said that he hated the snobbishness of the
" Bene natus, bene vestitus et moderate doctus "
idea, but he strove after the selection of those
who promised the best results. It was rather
the striving after the " mens sana in corpore
sano^ Then he struck a happy note in leav-
ing the selection of the last three qualifica-
tions to the vote of the scholars' schoolfellows.
He could not do otherwise if he wished to
avoid the election of the mere bookworm, for
whom he had no particular fondness. A boy
at college may be popular amongst his mates
for a variety of reasons ; but where, as in
this case, boys are set to select on rules de-
finitely laid down, the ordinary schoolboy feels
that he is, as it were, on his honour to choose
strictly according to the conditions, and as a rule
will not be swayed by a mere feeling of fondness
or " chumminess."
It will, of course, be many years to come before
I90i] A FOUNDATION 325
the practical results of the scholarships can be
judged, but that is consonant with much of
Rhodes's work — the laying of a sound foundation
upon which the efforts of future generations might
find a base.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AND BURIAL
It was about ten o'clock on the night of
March 26, 1902, that I drove back to Groote
Schuur from Muizenberg to prepare for the
reception of Cecil Rhodes's remains.
A post-mortem examination, which showed that
the enlargement of blood-vessels over the heart
had almost filled the right lung cavity, had been
made and a mask of his features had been taken.
The body had been placed in a metal shell
within a temporary coffin. The front hall at
Groote Schuur was cleared, and a large table was
moved to its centre. Then Carter, the steward,
and I waited for the cortege from Muizenberg.
The temporary coffin had been brought up to
Rondebosch by train, and then moved to a hearse
which was awaiting it. I was standing on the
front steps at a little after 4 a.m., when I heard
the sound of horses' hoofs, and round the bend of
the front drive appeared the hearse. Beside it
walked Major Elmhirst Rhodes, Dr. Jameson,
Dr. Smartt, Dr. Stevenson, Jack Grimmer, and
E. H. Walton.
The effect was weird in the extreme — the semi-
326
1902] LAST HOME-COMING 327
darkened house with the little group of servants
standing with bared heads waiting for the pro-
cession which slowly made its way between the
great oaks which line the gravelled drive — waiting
for the master who was coming home for the last
time.
There was a brilliant full moon that Thursday
morning before Good Friday, and its rays shining
through the oak leaves cast a pattern of patches of
gold and black darkness upon the drive.
Slowly the hearse approached, no sound being
heard but the scrunching of the gravel beneath
the horses' hoofs and the measured tread of the
little band of mourners, who had now been
joined by Mrs. K. H. R. Stuart and Mr. Theo.
Schreiner. Then it stopped before the door, and
the coffin was borne in and placed upon the table
in the hall.
The body was in an ordinary lead-lined shell, and
the cover, not yet screwed down, was moved so as
to expose his face ; and so he lay, surrounded by those
whom in life he best loved to have around him.
And we all stood, hardly realizing that he was
indeed gone, nor did any one essay to move until
the silence was broken by a woman's sob, and
Mrs. Stuart stepped forward and placed a little
spray of white flowers upon the coffin.
Then all went to much-needed rest.
The following day and Good Friday were full of
work in connection with preparations for the funeral,
directions for which were contained in the will.
Only two or three visitors were permitted to
see the dead on Thursday. These included
328 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AND BURIAL [cH. xvi
Mrs. Stuart, Rudyard Kipling, and Mr. Silberbauer,
who placed his Masonic Regalia in the coffin, and
the lid was then screwed down. The coffin was
made in an incredibly short space of time out of
Matabele native teak, and in it were placed the
other shells, while it was also lined with lead.
Full instructions were wired to J. G. McDonald
at Bulawayo as early as possible for the preparation
of the grave on the site in the Matoppos selected
by Rhodes. Dr. Jameson asked me to remain
on with the estate, and to take charge of all
Rhodes's papers, and this I was naturally only
too pleased to do. My time for the next few
days was very fully occupied, as hundreds and
hundreds of telegrams, messages, and cards were
received, and wreaths and all sorts of floral tributes
arrived positively in tons, until the hall was filled
with them. On Saturday and Easter Monday
there was a public lying-in-state at Groote Schuur,
and on those days a continual stream of people of
every walk in Ufe passed through the hall from the
front entrance, and emerging at the back stoep
spread out over the estate. The number who
passed through, I believe, exceeded thirty-five
thousand. Colonel Frank Rhodes, who had been
cabled for, and Arthur Rhodes arrived on Tuesday,
and on Wednesday in the little hall we had the
real funeral service conducted by the Rev. Canon
Ogilvie.
At about ten o'clock that night the body was
taken under an escort of Cape police to the
Houses of Parliament for the second lying-in-state,
and we all followed in mourning carriages.
1902] STATE FUNERAL 329
The State funeral and procession took place in
Cape Town at three o'clock of the next day, and
over the coffin, which was covered with the Union
Jack which used to hang in the billiard-room at
Groote Schuur, and which was carried by-
Mr. E. S. Grogan in his tramp from Cape Town
to Cairo, the Chartered Company's flag, and a
white ensign from the Loyal Women's Guild,
bearing the inscription, "Farewell, Great Heart,"
the Archbishop preached his address from 2 Samuel
iii. 38 : " Know ye not that there is a prince and a
great man fallen this day in Israel ? "
After the service we moved out of the cathedral
to the strains of the " Dead March " in Saul, and
so on to the Cape Town railway station, where the
magnificent train-de-luxe, in the designing of
which Rhodes had taken so much interest, was
drawn up covered and draped with black and
purple emblems of grief, ready to take its first
journey to the north. It had not been completed
long, and had been waiting at Salt River works
until the cessation of hostilities to make its maiden
journey. Little did Rhodes think that the first
time the train he had helped to plan ran to his
North it would bear his earthly remains to their
lonely resting-place. The platform, like the train
itself, was draped in black and purple, and over
the entrance through which the bier passed was
the inscription, " To live in hearts we leave behind
is not to die." The old De Beers' car in which he
had so often travelled had been prepared as a
funeral car to carry the coffin, and to it the bier
was borne. The coffin placed in the tjar, a few of
330 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AND BURIAL [ch. xvi
the chief wreaths were put in with it, such as the
Queen's, Dr. Jameson's, and his family's. Two
troopers of the Cape Police, with arms reversed,
mounted guard over the bier, we all took our
allotted seats, and the train slowly moved out from
the platforms crowded with a silent multitude,
and gradually gathering speed was soon flying on
its road to the north. And so we started on our
journey of a week's duration, terminating in the
kopjes of the Matoppos.
At every station of any importance we stopped,
and found a guard-of-honour drawn up, who
saluted the while the bands played dead marches,
the cadence of which was ever in our ears.
At stations and sidings where there were no
bands, from trumpets and bugles rang out, with
startling clearness across the lonely vast of the
" Karoo," the notes of the " Last Post," which
followed us as we whirled away north in the
darkness.
Wreaths and crosses were forthcoming in such
abundance, that when we got to Worcester there
was hardly room for more. On every platform
near which lay town or village mourners of both
nationalities had crowded to pay a last tribute to
the mighty dead. North of Beaufort West, where
we saw General French, the line was flanked at
short intervals by block-houses ; and as we flew by
the little garrisons stood to attention, and there
were few more impressive sights than the sentries
perched upon the roofs of the little block-houses,
standing like statues with arms reversed as the
funeral train rushed by. A pilot engine preceded
1902] AT BULAWAYO
the train from Cape Town to Maf eking, and from
Modder River to Palapye we were escorted by an
armoured train with a search-light, which swept
the veld on each side of the line.
At Kimberley, which owed so much to Rhodes,
we stopped for seven hours, during which many
thousands of people filed by the funeral car, the
bands playing the *' Dead March " on the railway
platform.
Amongst those we saw amidst the mourners
was N'jube, Lo Bengula's eldest son. At Vryburg,
which we reached at nightfall, we were detained
for the night. The remnants of Methuen's column,
which had been crushingly defeated a little while
before by De la Rey, had struggled into the town,
which was still sniped every night, and it was
considered unsafe to proceed. Mafeking was the
last place of any size we stopped at, and here the
whole population of the town had assembled about
the railway platforms.
We reached Bulawayo early on the morning of
Tuesday, April 8, after having disposed by fire
of the enormous number of wreaths and other
floral tributes. The ribbons and cards attached to
them were carefully preserved.
At Bulawayo the coffin lay in state throughout
Tuesday, and the first part of the funeral service,
which was to be completed in the Matoppos, was
held in Bulawayo the following day. After the
procession, which followed the service, the coffin
was escorted out to Rhodes's huts on his Matoppo
farm, about eighteen miles from Bulawayo, by
fifty B.S.A.P. troopers, and there it lay for that
332 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AND BURIAL [cH. xvi
night. Those attending the ceremony went out
during the afternoon in coaches, carriages, carts, on
horseback and bicycles, and even on foot, and on
the morning of the day of the funeral, Thursday,
April 10, a mighty concourse had assembled at the
Hill of " Malindi N zema."
Jack Grimmer had, to his sorrow, to remain in
Bulawayo, owing to an attack of fever. There
was also a congregation of some thousands of
Matabele, who had come to see the obsequies
of " Mlamula Mkunzi," who was to be laid so near
to the resting-place of Umziligazi, the founder of
their nation.
The coffin had been drawn by a team of oxen
to the summit of the kopje, from which Rhodes
selected his " View of the World," and the grave
was all prepared to receive his mortal remains.
After the remainder of the funeral service,
adjourned from Bulawayo, had been conducted by
the Bishop of Mashonaland, who also read the
poem written by Rudyard Kipling for the occasion,
the coffin was lowered into its bed in the solid
rock, and the wreaths from the Queen, Dr. Jameson,
and " his brothers and sisters " were laid upon it,
and the massive stone slab, upon which was riveted
the plain brass plate bearing the inscription, " Here
lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes," was gently
settled upon the grave ; then the hymn " Now the
Labourer's task is O'er " was again sung, and we
turned to the sound of thousands of Matabele
warriors shouting, as is their custom, the praises of
the departed chief, and slowly made our way down
the hill, leaving him to lie in sleep for all time —
I902] ENERGY AT REST 333
in the words of Mr. Justice J. G. Kotze, "A
picture of energy come to rest . . . amid the silent
Matoppos, with the blue vault of heaven above
and the massive granite beneath — emblems of his
lofty inspirations and his solid work."
INDEX
Abenthla, 103
Aborigines Protection Society, 138
Aden, 138
Administrator, 147
Affleck, Sir Robert, 5 ; family-
tradition, 6
" African savages," 297
Afrikander, The, 35, 268
— Bond, The, 68, 74, 85, 108,
268, 276; a clever ruse, 69
Rhodes's association with, 71
a dangerous instrument, 74
a race organization, 74 ; pro-
fessions of loyalty, 75 ; sym-
pathy with Kruger, 81 ; its
aims, 270
— Corps, The, 271
Ahmed Arabi, 2
Algoa, 244
Aliwal North, 76
Amaholi, 103, 116
Amakiway 115
Americans, 44, 45
— scholarships, 323
Angonis, 103, 132
Angora goats imported, 46
Arabs, imported, 138 ; slave
traders, 139
Armstrong, Scout, 117
Assegai, 110
Assistance, applications for, 95
Atbara, 37
Australia, 86
Awemba, 139
Ayrshire Mine, 132
B
Babyan, 103, 113; rebels, 116;
and Queen Victoria, 123 ; in a
rage, 124 ; and the missionary,
124 ; at Windsor, 125
Ba«k-veld Boer, 276
Bailey, Sir Abe, 90
Baker, Herbert, 253
Barkly West, 61, 90
Barnato, Barnato Isaacs, 9, 58,
59; death, 18; blackmailed
and driven to frenzy, 66
— , Mrs., 19
"Bastard industries," 89
Beaconsfield, Lord, 133
Bechuanaland, 59, 89, 102, 270 ;
distm-bances, 61 ; proclaimed a
British Protectorate, 62 ; the
Cape Commission, 63 ; annex-
ation, 65
— Border Police, 115, 224
— Railways, engines lent to
Kitchener, 37
Begging letters, 93
Beira, 77
— Railway, 72, 131
Beit, Alfred, 10, 14, 18, 19, 69,
102, 132, 135, 228, 305, 308
Bell, Moberly, 300
Bembezi, 3 ; fight on, 110
Berne award, 79
Bethell, Christopher, 64
Betyana, 116
Bilingualism, 272, 276
BiUiards, 291
Biltong, 285
Birmingham Small Arms Com-
pany, 223
Bishop's Stortford, 1
Bismarck, Prince, 28, 285
Bissett, James, 145
Blunt, Sir Wilfrid, 46
"Body Guard, The," 200, 210,
216
Boer War, 1881, 88
, 1899-1902, 3, 37, 57, 214
Boers, The, 40, 59, 61, 102, 109,
273
335
336
INDEX
Bolton, Gambler, 174
Bombay and Portuguese mer-
chandise, 78
Bonga-ing, 14, 104
Books, 287
Booth, " General," 38
Borckenhagen, E., 41
Botha, Commandant, 226
— General, 278
Bower, Sir Graham, 44, 223, 229
Boyd, Charles, 216
Bozingwan, 116
Brailsford, E. Law, 47, 123, 191,
204
— Miss Mary, 47
Brandy excise, 60
Brazilian Diamond Properties, 11
Bridge, 291
British Central Africa, 132
— East Africa, 40
— South Africa Company, 44, 46,
91, 97 ; concession granted,
14, 104 ; Incorporation, 105 ;
in Manica, 107 ; Rhodes reap-
pointed Chairman, 137, 139
Brussels siding, 214
Buchanan, Sir John, 293
Bulawayo, 3, 14, 37, 92, 102,
104, 107; occupation of, 110;
Government House, 147 ; boom,
150 ; opening of railway, 173
" Bump of locality," 285
Burlington Hotel, 62, 211
Burnham, Scout, 117
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H., 88
Canada, 86
Cannon Street Hotel meeting, 140
Cape, black blood, 268 ; Govern-
ment helpless, 83 ; Govern-
ment and Damaraland, 65 ;
fear of Rhodes 's power, 71 ;
Imperial Party, 72 ; in sym-
pathy with Boers, 83 ; Ministry
resigns, 73 ; Rhodes's entry
into politics, 61
— Boys, 35, 119
— Colony, 46, 90
— Dutchmen, 267
— Railways, 72, 73
— to Cah-o, 134
— Town, 61
— wines, 13
Carnarvon, Lord, 321
Carnival, Salisbury, 161
Carrington, Sir Frederick, 120
Carter. E. G.. 262, 326
Cary, Arthur, 110
Cecil, Lady Edward, 307
Central Africa, 8 ; danger of loss
of, 89
— Diamond Mining Company, 1 1
Cetywayo, 102
Chamberlain, J., 72, 234
— , R., 257
Charter, a dangerous camp, 158
— The Royal, 14
Chartered Company, ^ee British
South Africa Company
Chess, 291
Chikwawa, 133
Chishawasha, 39
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 108
C.I.V. heroes, 37
Clive, Rhodes compared to, 27,
30, 33
Cloete, John, 318
— Louis, 269
Codrington, William, 132
Cold storage, 249
Colenbrander, John, 104, 120, 126
— Mrs., 120
CoUey, A., 252
Colonial Preference, 89
Commission (Raid), 128, 130
— (Delimitation), 107
Concessions, The Charter, 14 ;
granted by Lo Bengula, 104 ;
Gazaland, 105 ; Rennie-Tail-
your, 105 ; Barotseland, 132
" Conciliation," 60
Congo Free State, 40
Consolidated Goldfields, the, 97,
136, 219
Constantia, 13
Convention of London, 62
— National, 221 ; breach of, 279
Correspondence, 98
Coryndon, R. T., 132, 146, 190,
193, 269
— Selby, 192
Coutinho, 133
Cowper, Sydney, 63
Craven, Dr. Walter, 160
" Creative genius," 45
Crocodiles, sacred, 147
Cronje, Commandant, 240
Currey, H., 190, 192, 269
Currey, J. B., 192
Currie, Sir Donald, 33
Customs Union, 80
d'Acunha, Tristan, 78
d' Albuquerque, Alphonso, 78
INDEX
837
Dalham Hall, 3, 6, 6, 256, 305
Damaraland, 89
d'Andrade, Ferri, 106
Daniels and Wilson, 111
Davis, Major Karri, 228
Dawson, Alec, 104
De Beers Car, 144, 145, 188, 329
Consolidated Mines, Limited,
8 ; preliminaj-ies for amalgama-
tion, 9 ; control of diamond
output, 10 ; amalgamation, 11 ;
the Board, 1 5 ; secret service,
17; life governors, 18, 23, 29,
45 ; agricultural enterprises,
46, 57, 65 ; safeguarding their
interests, 65 ; fruit farms, 68 ;
use of funds, 68 ; nominees in
Cape Parliament, 68 ; Dyna-
mite Factory, 69, 70, 97 ; Pre-
emption in Rhodesia, 135, 136,
213, 214
De la Cruz, Antony (see " Tony "),
21, 43, 144
De la Goa, 244
Delagoa Bay, 74 ; negotiations
to purchase, 77, 80
De la Rey, General, 331
" Demons of Ignorance," 273
de Villiers, Hon. Percy, 312
— — Baron, 73, 312
de Waal, D., 108
de Wet, General Christiaan, 277
Dhliso, 116
Diamond industry, 7-10, 65, 69
Diaries, Rhodes's dislike to, 231
Diaz, Bartholomew, 78
Dickens's books, 47
" Dignity of Labour," 75
Dinizulu, 102
"Doctor, The," 16
Doornkop, " Bobby White's Jour-
nal," 157
•' Doppers," 234
Douglass, Arthur, 82, 84
Drifts Question, The, 220
Duke and " a Savage," 297
Dutch dances, 157
Dutch East India Company, 243 ;
treatment of Huguenots, 267
— in Rhodesia, 59
— Reformed Church, 68
— The, 266; wine farmers, 60;
diplomacy, 94 ; and gold farms,
218; the "chosen people of
God," 273; "The salt of the
Earth," 273; likeness for
Rhodes, 274 ; slimness, 276
Dutchman, and cheek, 93
E
Edward VII., H.M. King, 42
Edwards, Sam, 104
Egypt, 136; "scuttling out of,"
88 ; suggested evacuation of, 89
Eldorado Mine, 132
Electioneering methods, 69
Enkeldoorn, 128 ; a " bucksail
dance," 157
Enterprise District, 155
" Equal Rights," 60-76
Escombe, Hon. Sir H., 174, 210
Exeter Hall " Faddists." 76, 138
Fairbairn, 104
FairUght, 4
Faku, 116-17
Farms, 46
Farrar, Sir Geo., 227
" Father of the People," 91
Faure, Su- Pieter, 68, 71, 143, 294
Federated Empire, 86
Federation, 87 ; of S.A. States,
82 ; a cherished ideal, 83 ;
" Ireland the key," 86
Ferreira, Col., 109, 271
Ferreira's Raid, 59
Fisher, John Hayes, 174
Floors, diamond, 189
Forbes, Major, 106, 110, 112, 155 .
Francistown, 145
French, General Sir John, 330
Frost, Sir John, 73
Fruit-growing, 46
Fuller, Sir T. E., 16, 44, 71, 82,
112, 232, 273
Funeral, Rhodes's, 326
Fynn, W. D., 213, 238
— the brothers, 191, 205
Garlick, John, 111
Garrett, Edmimd, 201
Gaul, Bishop, and Rhodes's
philanthropy, 15
Gazaland, 102, 105, 163; Moodie
trek into, 175
Geelong Mine, 136
German Emperor, 41 ; telegram
to Kruger, 74
German scholarships, 323
Germany in S.W. Africa, 65, 89,
110
Gibbon, 47, 48
Gladstone, W. E., 86
INDEX
Glen Grey Act, " a gentle stimu-
lus," 75
Goa, 78, 244
Goanese, 43
Gold in Rhodesia, 136, 137
Gordon, Gen. Charles, 30, 89 ;
" a roomful of silver," 30 ;
" Ideas without money," 30
— Panmure, 49
Goshen, 61
Gouveia, 106
Graaff, Sir D. P. de ViUiers, Bart.,
242
*' Greater Britain," 302
Grenfell, Hon. Wm., 32, 309
Grey, Col. Raleigh, 224
— , Countess, 120; wonder at
Rhodes, 127
— , Earl, 44, 120 ; and the " bump
of locality," 154
Grimmer, John R., 20, 94, 120,
128, 143, 173, 190, 194, 210,
213, 215, 235, 269, 303, 317,
326, 332; and a horse, 160;
legacy, 196; character, 196;
and Plato, 196; death, 197,
318
Grimmer, Dr., 192, 193
Grogan, E. S., 260
Grootboom, John, 164; kills my
horse, 171 ; decamps, 174
Groote Schuur, 3, 13, 15, 21, 34,
38, 45, 46, 48, 55, 69, 121,
289; rebuilding, 131 ; Rhodes's
home, 243 ; animals, 246 ;
lions, 248 ; visitors, 248 ; the
fire, 251 ; frolics, 255 ; the
flags, 257 ; the " Royal table,"
258 ; *' Bobbie " Burns' statue,
259 ; Bismarck's portrait, 260 ;
vandalism, 264 ; lunches, 294
Gubulawayo, 102
Gungunhana, 102, 163
Gunning, Dr., 250
Gwelo, 112 ; a banquet, 157
Haarhoff, D., 239
Harris, Dr. Rutherfoord, 34, 190
Hatchard & Co., 47, 198, 252
Hawksley, Bourchier F., 152, 308
Heany, Maurice, 136
Herkomer's picture, 49
Hertzog, General, 277-78
Hertzogism, 272
Heymann, Col., 164
Hicks-Beach, Sir Michael, 136
High Commissioner, 99, 137
Hill, James, 82
Hobbies, 45
Hofmeyr, Adriaan, 146, 211
— J. H., 72 ; Cape University
scheme, 73, 74-81 ; " The
Mole," 81
Holi, 117
Home Rule in Ireland, 86
Hostess, an anxious, 145
Hottentots' Holland, 289
Howe, Lady, 258
Hoyle, Wm., 188
Huguenots, French, 266
Humphreys, A., 252
Huntley, H. M. G., 52, 153, 191,
205
I
I.D.B. Acts, 17, 65 ; the trapping
system, 66 ; scapegoats, 66 ;
unpopularity, 67 ; severity and
abuse — an indignant judge, 67,
135
Illicit diamonds, 17
Imperial cold storage, 242
— Federation, 88
— Government, 62, 137 ; neglect
to aimex Damaraland, 65 ;
guarantee, 135
— Parliament, right of veto, 87
— Troops, use of, 119-37
Impi, 102, 103
Indaba, 121
Indians in Rhodesia, 111
Induna, 103
Industries, Colonial, 89, 90
Inter-dominion trade, 89
Inyanga, 45-153; ruins, 166;
inscription found, 183 ; exca-
vations, 183
Ireland, 86-87
Isaacs, Barnett (see Barnato)
Isandhlwana, 110
Iver, 4, 49
Jabavu, Tengo, 274
Jacobs, John, 113
Jameson, Sir Starr (" Dr. Jim "),
16, 32, 57, 74, 84, 90, 108, 154,
156, 160, 170, 224, 231, 293,
309, 316-17, 326
Jesuit Fathers, 39
"Johan," 126
Johannesbm-g, 15, 29
— Crisis, 2
— Reformers in gaol, 54
— "Revolution," 115, 222
INDEX
339
Johnson, Frank, 136
Johnston, Sir H. H., 89
Jones, Francis, 305
Jourdan, PhiUp, 36, 91, 93, 99,
120, 140, 143, 144, 197, 211,
212, 213, 216, 234, 239, 269,
303, 310, 317
Journals, Rhodes's dislike to, 231
Juta, Sir Henry, 72
K
" Kahn, of Paris," 255
Kalahari Desert, 146
Kantole, 116
Karl Kumalo, 113
Kaross, 26
Kekewich, Colonel, 58, 237
Khama, 55, 102, 104, 129, 145
Kimberley, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 23,
24, 31, 43, 46, 57, 67, 191
Kimberley Mine, 59
— "Mixed Humanity," 17
— Siege of, 39, 58
Kipling, Rudyard, 47, 244, 323,
328
Kitchener, Lord, 2, 12, 37
Kjiight-Bruce, Bishop, 111
Kotz6, Mr. Justice J. J., 333
Krieger, George, 318
Kruger, President S. J. P., 62, 81,
89, 217, 220, 270, 275; ampu-
tates his thumb, 33 ; and Ger-
many, 107 ; claim for damages,
231 ; gift of lion to, 249
Klrugerism, 270
Krugersdorp, " battle " of, 225
Kumalo, 103
Kunzi, 156
Laager, 119, 176
Labour, from North, 138
— question, 137
Labram, 241
Ladysmith, siege, 238
Laing, John, 73
Lake N'gami Trek, 146
Land settlement, 136
Lange, E., 194, 267
Lawley, Lady, 148, 156
— Sir Arthur, 156, 173, 191
Laurencedale, 107
Leonard, James, 273
Le Sueur, Gordon, 141-4, 152,
162, 165, 169, 172, 184, 187,
197, 210-16, 235, 261, 269, 296,
311
Letters, 95
Lewanika, King, 132, 193 J
Lewis and Marks, 175
Leyds, Dr., 107, 222, 270
Liberal Party, 85
Limpopo, 103
Lippert, Edward, 105
Livingstone, 132
Lo Bengula, 14, 102, 104, 107,
109, 111, 112; Methods, 103;
147 ; Envoys to Queen Victoria,
113, 123
snuffbox, 258
sons, 260
Lobola, 116
Loch, Lord, 222
Logan, J. D., 73
Lo Magondi, 129
London Convention, 62
" Long Cecil," 241
LorenQO Marques, 80
Louw, T. J., 306
Loyal Women's Guild, 329
Lugard, Lady, 201
Luke xiv. 31 (telegram), 57
M
MacArthur, J. H., 226, 227
Ma^equece, 106, 163
Machado, Colonel, 78 ; policy o f
retaliation, 78
Mackenzie, John, 62, 63
MacNeUl, Swift, 86
Madeira, 130
Maf eking, 115, 146, 214; relief,
213; storm, 214 ; siege, 238
Maguire, Rochfort, 12, 86, 102,
104, 234, 305; visit to Bula-
wayo, 14
— Mrs., 140, 234
Mahdi, the, 37 ; " squaring the,"
59
Malema, John, 186
Malindi N'zema, 121, 332
Malmesbury, 81
Manicaland, 102, 106, 163
Mankoroane, 61, 63
Mantle of Rhodes, 90
" Map, Study the," 287
Marais, Stephanus, 63
Marcus Aurelius, Rhodes's liking
for, 36,48
Marks, " Sammie," 90
— E., 175
Marriott, Sir William, 317
Martin, Sir Richard, 102, 137
Mashomgombi, 156
840
INDEX
Mashonaland, 89, 104 ; expedi-
tion, 105
Mashona Rebellion, 129
Matabele, 29, 89, 102-4, HI, 112,
116, 155; Rebellion, 3, 33, 60,
115, 120; war of, 1893, 57,
109 ; an ill-fated impi, 103 ;
and Khama, 102 ; manners,
113; superstitions, 115; mas-
sacre, 117 ; Indaba, 121 ; peace
negotiations, 123 ; meeting after
Rebellion, 154 ; at Groote
Schuur, 260 ; at funeral, 332
Matabeleland, annexation, 113
Matoppos, 26, 33, 45, 52 ; huts,
54; farms, 113, 116, 148, 153,
205; funeral, 331
Mazoe, 160
McDonald, J. G., 120, 148, 191,
204, 328
Melsetter, 169, 271 ; occupation
of, 1 75 ; attacks by Portu-
guese, 179; starvation, 180
Menpes, Mortimer, 49
Menzies, Sir Robert, 215, 297 .
Merck, Baron, 77
Merriman, John X., 71, 73, 192 ;
wire to Rhodes, 81
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 12, 13, 20,
32, 185, 301, 309
Methuen, General Lord, 331
Michell, Sir Lewis, 27, 44, 315;
and a lion, 1 56 ; cable re Prin-
cess Radziwill, 305
Milner, Lord, 12, 84, 183 ; speech
to Bond, 75 ; visit to Rhodesia,
174
Milton, Sir WUliam, 142, 147, 191
Missions, 39
Mlimo, The, prophecies, 116;
supposed killed, 117
Mochudi, 145
Monarch Mine, 145
Montsoia, 61 ; attack on Boers,
63
Moodie, Dunbar, 175, 179, 180,
181 ; death, 182
Moodie, Thomas, 175 ; death, 179
— "Trek," 175
Moodies, the, hardships, 169
"Moral and Intellectual Dama-
ges," 231
Morgen, 113
Moselikatze. See Umziligazi
Moshete, 61, 63
Mother Country and Oversea Do-
minions, 134
Mount Hampden, 81, 160
M'peseni, 260
M'senga, 139
M'Shete, 125
M'tasa, 102, 163
M'tokos, 155
M'tyana, 111, 116
"Mugwump," 82, 293
Muid (sack), 100
Muizenberg, 90, 310, 311
Murchison Falls, 133
Murray, R. W., 63
N
Namaqualand Copper, 68
Napoleon, 27, 36
Naples, 216
Natal, 6, 7
Nationalist Party (Cape), 277
Natives, allotment of land, 75 ;
effort to make them work, 75 ;
running powers, 183
Netherlands Railway, 220
" New Chums," 205
Newmarket, 5
Ngongubela, 260
N'jube, 155, 260, 331
Nonconformists, 88
Nooitgedacht, 194
Norris, J., 262
North, " A Northern Union," 72
North-Western Rhodesia, 132
N'taba zi ka Mambo, 119
N'taba 'Zinduna, 147
N'tupusela, 52
Nyasaland, 133
O
Oats, Francis, 68, 145
Occupation clause, 176
Ogilvie, Canon, 328
O'Meara, Major, 237
" 0ns Land," newspaper, 74
" Onze Jan " See Hofmeyr, J.
H.
Oriel College, 6
Orpen, Joseph, 84
Oversea Dominions, 86, 88
Oxford, 6, 8, 97 ; Rhodes's affec-
tion for, 11
Paarl, 68
Palapye, 102
Palk, Harry, 99, 190, 200, 201
Parnell, Stuart, 86
Peace, 323
INDEX
841
Penfold, Captain, 23, 44, 144, 243
Personal relationa, my, 207
" Peter Halkett of Mashona-
land," 114
Philipson-Stow, F. S., 18 ; op-
poses Rhodes, 70
Pickering, Neville, 190, 269, 321 ;
Rhodes leaves him his wealth,
192
— William, 93
Pickstone, H. E. V., 46
Pitsani Pothlugo, 115
Police camps, 283
Pondoland, 80 ; annexed, 81
Pondos, the, 60
Portraits of Rhodes, 49
Portugal, unjust treatment, 78
— and Indian Government and
the Mahratta Railway, 78
Portuguese, 43, 132 ; attacks on
Melsetter, 179; Berne award,
79 ; British assistance, 78
Bomidary Commission, 1 64
caimon at Groote Schuur, 256
Customs Treaty, 79 ; defeat
at Ma9equece, 1 64 ; difficulties
in India, 78 ; ejection from
Melsetter, 180 ; finances, 77 ;
flag at Groote Schoor, 164, 257 ;
in Manica, 106, 163 ; Merri-
man's wire, 81 ; names, 244 ;
pride in former conquests, 77
— Government, fear of revolu-
tion, 78 ; negotiations re Dela-
goa Bay, 77
— Minister and Lord Salisbury,
164
— Possessions, 78
Progressive Association, 71
— Party, 16; Rhodes's leadership,
82
Pungwe Falls, 167
— River, 167
Q
Queen Alexandra, H.M., 319
"i'Qweeni," 124
Queenstown, Cape Colony, 46
" Queenstown gang," the, 148,
191, 205
Queen Victoria, H.M., 258
Quit-rent on farms, 179
Raaf, Commandant, 271
Race-feeling, 81
Racialism, 276
Radziwill, Princess Katherine,
300 ; warns Rhodes, 300 ; joins
Rhodes, 302 ; asks his assis-
tance, 303 ; dislike of " body-
guard," 303 ; sends telegrams
to herself, 303 ; her diary, 307 ;
alleged interviews with Lord
Salisbury, 307 ; brings action
V. R., 312; arrested, 312; at
Muizenberg, 312 ; sentenced,
315 ; released, 316
Raid, the Jameson, 16, 30, 44,
81, 149, 223, 229; "tacit
consent of Imperial Govern-
ment," 225
— Commission of Inquiry, 30,
195
Report, 154
Railways, Bechuanaland, 97
in transit rates, 187
— Mashonaland, 97
— opening to Bulawayo, 136
— Rhodesia, 12
Rand, The, 217
— Engineers, 44
— Produce and Trading Syndi-
cate, 226
Rannoch Lodge, 215, 299
Rates, in transitu, 187
Rebellion, 91, 118, 149
" Reformers," quarrels, 224 ; fines,
228
Renny-Tailyour, 105
Republicans, Cape sympathy, 83
Resident Commissioner, 120, 137
Rezende, Baron de, 106
Rhodes, Arthur Montagu, 2,
328 ; settles at Bulawayo, 3 ;
"Mlimo," 117
— Bernard, 2 ; "a loafer," 4
Rhodes, Cecil John :
Chapter I
Reasons for going to Africa, 1,
2 ; and Arthur's claim, 4 ;
birth, ability, 6
Chapteb II
Arrival in Africa, 7 ; " Africa
all red," 8; "Barney" Bar-
nato, 9 ; "A bucket of dia-
monds," 10; Oxford, 11; de-
gree of D.C.L., 12 ; early friend-
ships, 14 ; early philanthropy,
1 5 ; first meets Jameson, 1 6 ;
first great work completed, 18 ;
brutal maimer assumed, 19
342
INDEX
Chapter III
Personal appearance, 20 ; care-
less attire, 21 ; "an old coat,"
22 ; " The Old Man," 23 ;
drinking habit, 24 ; a curious
habit, 26 ; likeness to Caesars,
27 ; "a rough-hewn Colossus,"
28 ; determination, 29 ; a
valiant trencherman, 31 ; " the
laying hens," 32 ; physical cour-
age, 33 ; nervousness, 34 ;
public speaking, 35 ; flattery,
36 ; and Kitchener, 37 ; re-
ligion, 38 ; patriotism, 40 ;
and the German Emperor, 41 ;
and King Edward VII., 42 ;
considerate feeling, 43 ; nepot-
ism, 44 ; faculty of creation,
45 ; reading, 46 ; his common-
place book, 48 ; his portraits,
49 ; and women, 50 ; and
matrimony, 51 ; his idea of a
beautiful girl, 52 ; " Who's the
bride ? " 63
Chapter IV
Attention to detail, 56 ; " con-
ciliatory " methods, 60
Chapter V
Entry into Parliament, 61
first collision with Kruger, 62
and Sir Charles Warren, 63
included in Cape Ministry, 65
purchase of fruit farms, 66
Prime Minister, 71 ; his dual
position, 72 ; and Baron de
Villiers, 72 ; " the dignity of
labour," 75 ; ** Equal Rights,"
76 ; Delagoa Bay, 77 ; deals
with the Pondos, 80 ; feels loss
of friends, 81 ; hopes for sus-
pension of Cape Constitution,
83 ; Irish Home Rule, 86 ;
contribution to Liberal Party
Funds, 88 ; Tariff Reform, 89 ;
" Bastard " industries, 90
Chapter VI
"Father of the People," 91
*' What do you want ? " 92
indiscriminate philanthropy, 93
lack of discrimination, 94
as a godfather, 96 ; and gifts
of money, 97 ; " Le Sueur says
I can't write English," 100 ;
his memory, 101
Chapter VII
And the North, 102 ; and a
concessionaire, 105 ; shoots a
zebra, 108 ; " Peter Halkett,"
114; resignation, 118; taken
for a trader, 120 ; selects site
for grave, 121 ; and Umziligazi,
122 ; and Babyan, 126 ; native
name, 127 ; in a fight, 128 ;
" a woman in it," 129 ; "unctu-
ous rectitude, 130 ; romance,
131 ; and Codrington, 132 ;
assists Sir Harry Johnston,
133; "My North," 134; and
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, 135;
despondent, 136 ; confidence in
gold, 137 ; and the " Faddists,"
138 ; reinstatement, 139
Chapter VIII
Drink, 145 ; meets an old
"mate," 146; "All Homes,"
148 ; his charity, 149 ; as a
horseman, 151 ; heart attack,
152 ; at the Indaba, 154 ; flies
from ladies, 157 ; takes Grim-
mer's horse, 160 ; hatred of
display, 151 ; and Dr. Craven,
162 ; fairly drawn, 165 ; starts
ailing, 170 ; anxiety for Grim-
mer, 171 ; outrmis the con-
stable, 183 ; and a circus, 184 ;
idea of humoiu-, 186; faculty
for grasping a situation, 189
Chapter IX
Fondness for Neville Pickering,
192 ; affection for Grimmer,
193 ; the only man he feared,
194; and our bills, 198; and
bets, 199; his hope for me,
200 ; and a real secretary, 201 ;
his panacea, 202 ; sympathy,
208 ; attraction, 209 ; sar-
casm, 210 ; his letters to me,
212; in Scotland, 215; in
Egypt, 216
Chapter X
Partnership with Rudd, 217
buys gold farms in Transvaal
218; zenith of power, 219
second collision with Kruger
221 ; sanctions transfer of B.B
Police, 224 ; pays Reformers
fines, 228; resignation, 229
INDEX
348
faith in Jameson, 230 ; horror
of diaries, 231 ; and the Boer
War, 234 ; feels importance
of Transvaal situation, 235
quarrels with Kekewich, 237
frightens a Dutchman, 238
restless for news in Kimberley,
241 ; suspects spies, 242
Chapter XI
Purchases Groote Schuur, 245 ;
has a narrow escape, 249 ; re-
builds Groote Schuur, 251 ;
his pictures, 245 ; and E. S.
Grogan, 260 ; and Njube, 261
Chapter XII
Bhodes and the Dutch, 266 ;
fondness for South Africans,
268 ; uses the Bond power, 270 ;
and Van Wyk, 272 ; on the Veld,
280 ; a horse deal, 281 ; and a
storekeeper, 282 ; on the Pohce,
284 ; and a punishment, 285 ;
" the bump of locality," 286 ;
" Study the map," 287 ; love
for Matoppos, 288 ; at Groote
Schuur, 289
Chapter XIII
Recreations, 291 ; careless
spelling, 292 ; in London, 295 ;
consideration, 298 ; enthusi-
asm about Rannoch, 299
Chapter XIV
Last days, 300 ; meets Prin-
cess Katherine Radziwill, 300 ;
a mascot, 301 ; sails for Cape
for last time, 302 ; avoids Prin-
cess, 304 ; last arrival in Eng-
land, 305 ; objects to pleading
ill-health, 306 ; wishes to sub-
poena Lord Salisbury, 307 ; has
a bad fall, 309 ; goes to
Muizenberg, 310 ; " persecut-
ing a woman," 312 ; upset by
heat, 313 ; " Send for Michell,"
316; death, 320
Chapter XV
His will, 321 ; Imperial idea,
322
Chapter XVI
Last arrival at Groote Schuur,
327 ; rest in Matoppos, 332
Rhodes, Edith, 2, 4, 5, 61, 253
— EUzabeth, 1
— Elmhirst, 2, 3, 317, 326
— Ernest, 1, 3, 6
— " Frank " (Col. Francis), 2, 3,
6, 37, 54, 223, 328
— Herbert, 2, 6, 7
— Louisa, 2, 4, 297
— Rev. F. W., 1, 2, 4
Rhodes fruit farms, 69
Rhodesia, 59, 91 ; proteges of
influential people, 94 ; and the
Union, 134 ; self-government,
137 ; against bilingualism, 279
"Rhodes's Lambs," 192, 194
Rinderpest, 117, 129, 149
Roberts, Lord, 237
Robinson, Sir Joseph, 64, 217,
218 ; and Delagoa Bay, 77
— , Sir Hercules, 44
Romilly, Lady, 49
Rooi Grond, 61
Roos, J., 97
Rose-Innes, Sir James, 71, 82 ;
resignation, 73
Rosmead, Lord, 223
Ross, Percy, 148, 191, 205; and
a Scotsman, 20 5j and a bud-
ding beef -king, *206 ; and a
Dutchman, 207
Rothschild, Hon. Evelyn, 140
— , Hon. Walter, 193
— , Lord, 58 ; objects to use of
De Beers funds, 29 ; yields to
pressure, 30 ; protests, 71 ;
supports Rhodes in attempt to
gain Delagoa Bay, 77
Rothschilds, The, support Rhodes
in forming De Beers, 10
R.R.R., 118
Rudd, C. D., 15, 104, 296; visit
to Lo Bengula, 14
Rudd-Rhodes Sjmdicate, 14, 102
" Russia's Destiny," 304
Salisbury, 22, 48, 94, 106, 107,
159
— Carnival, 161
— famine prices, 160
— , Lord, 307
" Salting," 281
" Sample of Ale, A," 263
Sampson, Sir Aubrey Woolls-, 228
Sauer, Dr. Hans, 120, 204
— , J. W., 71, 73
Scanlen, Sir Thomas, 66
844
INDEX
Schermbrucker, Colonel, 269
Schlichter, Dr., 183
Schnadhorst, 88
Scholarships, 321, 322
Scholtz, Dr., 302, 314
— , Mrs., 302
School grants, 68
Schreiner, Olive, 114
— ,Theo., 327
— ,W. P., 73, 81, 220, 231
Seddon, Richard, 254, 319
Selous, F. C, 104, 105
Serpa Pinto, Major, 133
Shangani, 110
— River, 104
— Tragedy, 111
Shaw, Miss Flora. See Lugard
Shir6 River, 7, 133
Siebert, 110
Sigcau, 80
Sikhs, 133
Silberbauer, 328
Sisters of Nazareth, 38
Sivewright, Sir James, 71, 187 ;
assistance to purchase Delagoa
Bay, 77 ; resignation, 73
Slave emancipation, 139, 271
— trade, 133
— traders, 13^
Smartt, Sir Thomas, 72, 75, 84,
234, 293, 317, 326
Society of Jesus, 39
" So little done, so much to do,"
320
Somabula Forest, 110
Somabulana, 116
Soudan, 30
— Railway, 37
South Africans, 267
in Rhodesia, 107
South African University, 73
Southey, Sir Richard, 141
Sprigg, Sir Gordon, 63, 73, 83,
273 ; emulation of Pitt, 84 ;
dependence on Rhodes, 82
" Squaring the Mahdi," 59
Stanley, H. M., 40
State funeral, 329
Stead, W. T., 200, 321
Stellaland, 61
Stellenberg, 244
Stellenbosch, 68, 73, 244 ; dyna-
mite factory, 69
Stent, Vere, 120
Stevenson, Sir Edmund, 293, 317,
326
Steyn, ex-President, 277
Storekeepers, 283
Stuart, Mrs. K. H. R., 327
Sultan of Turkey, 46
— visits Groote Schuur, 261
Suppliants, 149
Surface rights in Rhodesia, 105
Suspension of Cape Constitution,
83 ; a ridiculous spectacle, 85
Swazis, 103
Taal, The, 74, 272, 276; in
Rhodesia, 279
Table Mountain, 53, 289
Tailor's Bill, my, 198
Tanganyika, 40
TarijEE Reform, 89
Tati, 145 ; concession, 104
Telegrams, famous : Rhodes to
Kitchener, 37 ; Rhodes to
C.I. v., 37; Kitchener to
Rhodes, 37 ; Rhodes to Jame-
son, 57, 110 ; German Em-
peror to Kjuger, 74 ; Merriman
to Rhodes, 81 ; Rhodes to Beit,
132, 174, 236 ; Jameson to Dr.
Wolff, 226
Telegrams of inquiry, 319
Tembuland, 76
Tete, 170
Te Water, Dr., 144
" The Doctor," 109
Thompson, F. R., 14, 102, 104
Tick-bird and rhinoceros, 127
Tie of language, 323
Tongoland, 113
"Tony," 21, 22, 25, 26, 33, 43,
147, 280, 318
Transcontinental Telegraph, 41,
97, 135, 155
Transvaal, 89
— British suzerainty, 62
— Filibusters, 63
" Treasure Island," 47
Tsessebe antelope, 186
Tsetse fly, 178
Tm-key, Sultan of, 42
Tyson, Captain, 15
U'dogetele, 16, 115
Uganda, 46, 89, 133
Uitlander, 234
Uitlanders, the, 221
Ullaners, 268
Umfundisi, 155
Umguza River, 147
Umlamula M'kunzi, 124
INDEX
845
Umlugulu, 116
Umshete, 113
Umtali, 106, 165,
Umvulaan, 113, 114
Umziligazi, 102, 103, 111 ; con-
quest of Matabeleland, 102 ;
his grave, 121 ; Rhodes 's tri-
bute, 122
" Unctuous rectitude," 30, 82, 88,
130
Union of Empire, 87
United British Empire, 322
United Empire, 85
Upington, Sir Thomas, G3
Van der Byl, C. 269
— , Laurence, 107, 271
~ , Mrs. John, 243
Van der Stell, Governor, 244
Van der Walt, 273
Van Diemen's Land, 131
Van Niekerk, Major P., 214. 215,
271
Van Wyk, 272
Venter, W., 108
Victoria, 105
— Falls, 103, 131
— , H.M. Queen, 60, 103
— Nyanza, 133
•♦ View of the World," 121, 333
Voortrekkers, 176, 271
W
Walton, Sir Edgar, 72, 293, 317,
326
— Sir Lawson, 293
War, Anglo-Boer, 233
Warren Expedition, 63
— , Sir Charles, 9, 63, 271, 272
Wayside stores, 282
Weil, Julius, 188
" Welgelegen," 192
Wellington, 68
Wernher, Beit & Co., 14, 101
Wernher, Sir Julius, 14
" Westbrooke," 245
Westminster, control from, for
Dominions, 86
Weston-Jervis, Colonel, 235
White, Hon. Colonel Harry, 145,
208, 224
— , Hon. R., 157, 231
Will, The, 292, 321
Williams, " Buck," the hangman,
157
Williams, Gardner, 9, 44, 144, 217
Willoughby, Sir John, 224
Wilson, Alan, HI
Wilson (and Daniels), 111
Wilson, Lady Sarah, 258
Wilson Memorial, 122
Wilson's last stand, 112
Witch-doctors, 116
Witwatersrand, 15, 217
Wolff, Dr. H. A., 225, 226
Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 2
" Woolsack, the," 48
Worcester, Lord Milner's speech,
75
"World's View," 121
Wyndham, George, 216
" Young Men," the, 36, 288
Rhodes and his, 190
Zambesi, 102, 103, 132
Zanzibar, 139
Zebra, Rhodes shoots a, 187
Zimbabye, 105, 112, 122
24
PRINTED BY
BAZELI., WATSON AND VINEY, IJ>.
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
LOAN DEPT.
.u- ust Hate stamped below, or
Kene.eaCr.:::b]ec»oi»»^i^^^
TU H0U07
4
.J^r^nic.
^?^-
rr.
'iQ-^^
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11